Hugo: Book Two in the Painter Place Saga

By Pamela Poole

Description:

Like a Monster Roaring in the Dark of Night...

Huricane Hugo slammed its Category 4 power into Charleston, South Carolina at the worst possible time—high tide. On September 21, 1989, Painter Place was scoured by a storm surge as part of the writhing Atlantic Ocean, while the “storm of the century” continued its rampage far inland, mauling the rest of the Carolinas.

The setting for the magical island summer of 1985 at Painter Place is swept into history. Survivors are forced into a new reality that brings out the worst in them and their hometown of Whitehaven, and the Painter and Gregory families find that once you’ve experienced a hurricane like Hugo, nothing will be the same again.

On the devastated South Carolina coastline of 1989 and in Arles, France during the centennial of Van Gogh’s life there, Hugo continues the saga of Painter Place. Caroline Painter Gregory struggles to let go of the past and desperately grasps for the courage to face a future that may hold the worst that can possibly happen. Her journey to endure a trial that no heir to Painter Place ever faced will set a benchmark for the generations after her.

Book Takeaway:

One of the key themes in the Painter Place saga is first mentioned in the opening chapters of the first novel: "Nothing is wasted." Everything a Christian faces is for a reason, even if they are victims or think they've misunderstood God when they thought He was leading them to a place that seemed to lead to failure. The running theme in Hugo and the entire saga is that everything you do counts--you never know how God will use it and you never know who is watching, but it becomes your legacy.

Why the author wrote this book:

As someone who'd lived through historic Hurricane Hugo, I knew the setting and characters in my debut novel Painter Place would be devastated by it. They would be defined by how they endured loss and rebuilding a future to carry on the legacy for their children. I wanted to use their struggles as a vehicle to drive home the scriptural view of why bad things happen to good people.