FICTION · WOMEN
Mary Alice Monroe
New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe found her true calling in environmental fiction when she moved to coastal South Carolina. Already a successful author with six books to her credit, she was captivated by the beauty—and fragility—of her new home. Her experiences living in the midst of a habitat that was quickly changing gave her a strong and important focus for her books. Since then, she has explored the problems of endangered sea turtles (The Beach House), raptors (Skyward) and the indigenous grass and endangered ecosystem (Sweetgrass). In Swimming Lessons, her new novel and a sequel to The Beach House, Mary Alice returns to the southeastern coast to explore the rehabilitation of injured and sick sea turtles. Mary Alice is an active conservationist. She is a dedicated member of the Isle of Palms/Sullivan's Island Turtle Team, a volunteer at the South Carolina Center for Birds of Prey, and she serves on the Board of the South Carolina Aquarium. A source of pride for Mary Alice is the fact that thousands of dollars have been raised to support environmental causes, specifically through her books. Mary Alice continues to write richly textured books that delve into the complexities of the human psyche and the parallels between the land and life. Her ten novels are published worldwide and have won acclaim and awards. She also has the honor of being a four-time RITA Award finalist, she's published her first children's book, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and private events. Mary Alice lives with her family on a barrier island off South Carolina.
IT'S LIKE DANCING SITTING DOWN.
— from The Beach House
Most acclaimed
The Beach House
Julie's husband of twenty-one years was living a secret life, which ended her marriage and forced her to start over alone at forty-three years old. Faced with a new reality, she decides to rebuild her life on an island off the coast of South Carolina and learn to make it on her own. The only thing she isn't expecting is to be thrown together with her estranged sister, the flower child wanna-be, yoga teaching bane of her existence. She also doesn't expect to meet a handsome stranger who will help her transform the money pit she accidentally bought into the home of her dreams. As she starts to create a life she loves, her husband causes a wrench in her plans once again. Will she be forced to help the man who broke her heart? Or will she finally break away and live life on her terms? You're going to love The Beach House and its quirky cast of characters, including Dixie, the epitome of Southern charm and wit, who runs the local bookstore called Down Yonder!
Swimming Lessons
In this generous gathering of new poems and work selected from her ten earlier books, the artistry, grace, and sense of wonder that have distinguished Nancy Willard's poetry for the past three decades are displayed in vivid abundance. Psalms to the puffball, to the wisdom of geese, to bees swarming, and to angels in the snow transport us to the farm country of Michigan and New York. Other poems - for example, "When There Were Trees" - take us to landscapes at once earthy and mythical: "I saw maples fanning the fire in their stars, / heard the coins of the aspens rattling like teeth, / saw cherry trees spraying fountains of light, / smelled the wine my heel pressed from ripe apples.". In Nancy Willard's poems the stuff of everyday life is transformed: bathtubs are "melancholy tureens into which the moon ladles her light broth"; the optometrist's shop, where "from the lit shelves stare a hundred eyeglasses," brings about a charmed discomfort; a dentist's mirror is "a moon caught on a silver baton." Hers is a vision marked by playfulness and close observation, by a questioning both joyful and profound, by the lasting enchantment of a light-filled world.