That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White is a coming to understand novel. Phoebe was hit by lightning as a young child. Since then, she has had troubling premonitions about things that could or would or have happened. Those premonitions made her an oddity to her family and her community. She left as soon as she could and has worked on making her life in a new place.
Having to return home to help her sister and mother is not what Phoebe Manigault had planned to do. But it is clear that more is happening at home, so knowing that it would be difficult, Phoebe returns home only to find that things are even more convoluted than what she imagined. Her mother definitely has dementia, her sister is struggling with addiction, and her niece desperately needs her. The past seems to be weighing heavily on all of them, dragging them to an ultimate understanding. To top it off Phoebe realizes that her past and her future seem intertwined in new ways.
The novel about the Manigault family is heart wrenching and life confirming at the same time. Learning about the past to help understand the future seems so hard. That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White is an awesome read.
