Berkley is very excited about the sales performance of Dorothea Benton Frank's hardcover debut, Isle of Palms—her first two novels, Sullivan's Island and Plantation, were mass-market originals. Total copies in print: 160,000. Last week in Charleston, S.C., Frank started her Great Perspiration Tour 2003 through the steamy South this summer. Hundreds of fans are showing up for her signings—more than 600 people attended her June 28 Barnes & Noble appearance in Mt. Pleasant, where a real "isle of palms" was placed outside the store to promote the event. Two of the author's childhood friends (one of whom she hadn't seen in 30 years), who have characters named after them in the book, sat at the table with Frank to sign copies of the book. Also at the autograph table was Marjory Wentworth, a book publicist who was just named poet laureate of South Carolina, and who has a poem featured in both Plantation and Isle of Palms.
With reporting by Dick Donahue
