BOOK 



MARKET 



Fort Macon State Park — all representatives of their 

 natural communities as well as interesting places to visit 



In the epilogue, the author briefly discusses a 

 number of important issues facing the coast: population, 

 land use, economic development, water quality, 

 environmental management and coastal management. 

 He provides just enough information to pique your 

 interest and send you on your way with his guide in 

 hand to discover the issues — and the coast — for 

 yourself. 



• Fiction 



Amethyst Dreams by Phyllis A. Whitney. 

 Crown Publishers Inc., 201 East 50th St., 

 New York, NY 10022. 276 pages. Hardcover, 

 $25. ISBN 0-517-70759-4. 



The disappearance of Susan 

 Trench, a young heiress 

 from Topsail 

 Island, 

 provides the 

 impetus for 

 mystery master 

 Whitney's latest 

 book. When 

 college friend 

 Hallie Knight is 

 summoned from 

 California by Susan's 

 wealthy grandfather, 

 her arrival sets in 

 motion events that 

 uncover Susan's fate. 

 Hallie, preoccupied by 

 the possible breakup of 

 her marriage, tells the story 

 through her own emotional 



filter. On Topsail Island, she sets out to determine not only 

 the truth about Susan but her own heart as well. Along the 

 way, she meets an assemblage of people — including a 

 precocious 10-year-old girl, a reclusive artist and a 

 famous actress — who help her sort out both. 



Whitney, who spent time on Topsail researching the 

 novel, enlivens the tale with tidbits of history and 

 folklore, weaving in historical details from World War 

 II and beliefs about the mystical powers of am- 

 ethysts. The island setting is both enchanting and 

 ominous — the surrounding waters lend the sense 

 that a murderer is trapped on Topsail and can't 

 escape the truth's surfacing. It does, in a surprising ending. 



Southport: A Story of 

 Second Chances by 

 Edward P. 

 Norvell. Research 

 Triangle Publish- 

 ing, P.O. Box 1130, 

 Fuquay-Varina, NC, 

 27526. 255 pages. 

 Paperback, $12.95. 

 ISBN 1-884570-68-2. 

 When Todd Field 

 runs away from his 

 family's Duplin County 

 tobacco farm in 1975, he 

 heads for the coast and lands 

 n Southport. Soon after 

 arriving, he is hired as a 

 mate on a charter fishing 

 boat, beginning a life of self- 

 discovery and adventure at sea. The reader is taken along 

 on fishing expeditions and seashore walks, through 

 shipwrecks and hurricanes, and into the nightlife of the 

 Carolina coast. Through it all, Norvell provides often 

 magical descriptions of the coastal landscape, particularly 

 of a moonlit turtle hatching on Bald Head Island. 



Todd tells his story in a simple and honest voice and 

 's a likable character who transforms from a teen-ager 

 adrift to a man solidly grounded. Early in life, he must 

 deal not only with the lasting damage of 

 abuse but also with the enormous 

 task of making a way for 

 himself with few 

 resources. 

 He is 

 offered 

 many 

 second 

 chances for 

 love and 

 respect — 

 from others 

 and himself. But 

 it isn't until he 

 faces a personal 

 crisis after starting 

 a family that Todd, 

 in his 30s, fully 

 understands the virtue 

 of a second chance. □ 



COASTWATCH 23 



