Anne Rivers Siddons

"Every August, four women would gather together to spend a week at the beach, renting a new house each year. The ritual began when they were in their twenties and their husbands were in medical school, and became a mainstay of every summer thereafter. Their only criteria was oceanfront and isolation, their only desire to strengthen their far-flung friendships. They called themselves the Girls of August. But when one of the Girls dies tragically, the...

Rebuilding her life on a plantation after the disappearance of her mother and the death of a sibling, Lilly Parmenter forges a near-mystical relationship with her beloved spaniel and finds her world changing after the arrival of a rebellious debutante, who harbors a dark secret.

When her daughter runs away to her aunt in California, Merritt Fowler of Georgia takes a plane to bring her back, the trip a welcome change from a demanding husband and an equally demanding mother-in-law who is suffering from Alzheimer's. The scene is set for a steamy romance during an earthquake.

The house next door to the Kennedy's is haunted by an evil that takes away whatever is dear to the occupants.