Joan C. Harris

There are three ways to tell if a Low Country lady is a hurricane sister: if she has a hurricane tracking map, an ax in the attic, and a hell or high water box in her possession. In September of 1959, Hurricane Gracie barreled down on Beaufort, South Carolina, with enough violence to change the lives of the Low Country ladies forever.

With a hurricane forecast to arrive any minute, Mrs. Forester fi nds it hard not to worry. As she nervously scans the gray skies, rain spatters on her window. A few hours later, she and her family cower in bed as debris shatters windows. But Mrs. Forrester is not the only one who frantically searches the skies every time a hurricane is forecast. Prudence Seabrook is just a girl in 1964 when she first considers death. As thunder shakes her house, she clings to her sister, hoping no evil will pass. This time she goes unscathed, for all the hurricane sisters know that only years ending in 9 portend disaster.

This charming collection of short stories highlights an eclectic group of characters that prove that Low Country ladies of a certain age have every reason to scan the skies from June to Novemberwaiting, watching, and wondering.