'Saddest Girl' learns that Hatteras life can be a beach

Raleigh author Heather Frese made a splash with her 2021 debut novel "Baddest Girl on the Planet," which won the Lee Smith Prize. She returns to that book's territory -- modern-day Hatteras Island -- for her follow-up, "The Saddest Girl on the Beach." This is no sophomore slump -- far from it. While "Baddest Girl" was basically a slim volume of interconnected short stories, "Saddest Girl" is a fleshed-out, mature novel with compelling themes. The heroine of "Baddest Girl" was Evid Austin, one of those rare BOIs (Born on the...