Summer's Here, Win a Beach Vacation

Summer’s here on the Isle of Palms!  As a longtime resident, we’ve learned the ebb and flow of daily beachgoer traffic during the summer season.  Every weekend my husband and I map out our daily commutes to and from home based on beach-goer traffic patterns.  We can't leave the island between 3-5 pm!

But I’m not having to worry about that right now because today—June 25^th-- is the official release of THE SUMMER GIRLS, and I'M ON THE ROAD!  It is my summertime ritual.   During the time of year when millions of American families head to a beach for vacation, I hit the road for book tour.  My husband stocks the freezer with pizza, my dog walker is on call, plenty of water and bookmarks in the trunk of my car, and my sister, Ruth, is Thelma to my Louise. 

Today’s book release is the official launch of The Lowcountry Summer Trilogy.  I'm at Moss Creek in Hilton Head and we're having a signature cocktail --a Dolphin Sunrise-- to celebrate the launch. So today I raise a toast to all my readers--Thank you!

THE SUMMER GIRLS is located on Sullivan's Island, SC and I have fun taking you to some of my favorite haunts.  In this novel, you’ll read about Dunleavy’s Pub, Home Team BBQ (read page 275 for details on the hushpuppies!), and Sandpiper Gallery.  They are definite must-visit locations.  For anything and everything coffee, wine, sweets and more, Café Medley is sure to please, in my opinion. 

A visit to Fort Moultrie is an adventure the entire family can enjoy.  History lovers will appreciate the island’s historic district, an eclectic mix of mostly family homes today that originally served as vital military resources, some dating back to the late 1800’s.  And make sure to drive by the island’s black and white lighthouse.  It has a unique triangular shape and is still active today. 

Next door to Sullivan’s Island, just on the other side of Breach Inlet, is my island home, the Isle of Palms.  Because of their geographical proximity, characters in THE SUMMER GIRLS spend some time on the I.O.P (as the locals often call it).  If you’re planning a trip to the island, one of the treasures here is Wild Dunes, a world-class golf resort at the northern end of the island.  The land is rich in history and is vital to the life cycle of the threatened loggerhead sea turtle.  The development plans of Wild Dunes and its impact on that area of the island in the 1970’s were important elements of my last novel, BEACH HOUSE MEMORIES.  Today, it’s a premier destination that is perfect for couples and families alike.  And I know that plenty of locals even vacation here.    You have a chance to WIN a getaway for two to Wild Dunes and experience a real-life Lowcountry weekend.  Click here to enter the sweepstakes on my Facebook page. 

While you’re staying on the Isle of Palms, you have to make sure to enjoy breakfast at the Sea Biscuit Café.  It’s worth the wait!  And if you’re lucky, you’ll get to see the kite man on Front Beach, as we call it.  It’s the area by the Windjammer and Coconut Joe’s restaurant.  I don’t know the guy’s real man but you can’t miss him.  He maneuvers a long row of brightly colored kites towing even longer tails, with such ease and grace.  His kite-flying moves are mesmerizing and fun to witness. 

And while you're on the beach, look for the orange signs that mark the sea turtle nests.  We're having a great start to the season.  But please don't use flashlights on the beach. Remember, lights out for turtles!  AND while standing along the shore, look out at the sea and scan the water for the tell-tale dorsal fins of the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins!

It will be awhile before I can enjoy some of my favorite local spots now that I’m on the road for the new book.  I guess you could say I’m kind of bringing a little bit of the beach to everyone who reads THE SUMMER GIRLS.  I've got approximately 30 special appearances (all listed on my website), so if I’m near your city or town, please come see me and we’ll celebrate the summer season together! 

The Lowcountry Summer Trilogy and Sweepstakes

I always know summer has arrived when I click on the television and hear the local meteorologists using terms like ‘heat index’ and ‘heat advisory’ during their weather reports.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not complaining about the summertime heat.  This year it was a long time coming.  Rather, I’m the opposite--grateful for sea breezes, porch fans and pitchers of sweet tea--with lots of ice and a twist of lemon, please!  I can’t think of a more natural, charming and beautiful place to be than right here at home in the Lowcountry.   The name comes from the fact the coastal area region sits at or below sea level, thus the term "low country," and is home to a maze of winding creeks, black-water swamps canopied by ancient cypress, and picture-perfect sights of the Atlantic Ocean. 

The heat and humidity of the summer season elicits a desire in so many of us to slow down, step away from the busyness of everyday life, and find time to enjoy a good book or two… or ten!  It’s been a thrill seeing my new novel THE SUMMER GIRLS on a number of best ‘summer reads’ and ‘beach reads’ lists, including CBS, Southern Living  and Deep South.  Even more exciting is that in one week, I’ll officially be sharing my new novel with you.  THE SUMMER GIRLS is the first installment of The Lowcountry Summer Trilogy.  The three novels take place on Sullivan's Island with the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin as the backdrop.  While researching the intelligent, social, and beguiling dolphins, so many layers began to take shape in this southern story it had to be a trilogy.

I draw the themes of my novels from the animals I'm researching.  Dolphins are masters of communication with their clicks, whistles, and sonar. They are very social and have strong family bonds.  Finally, there is something about them that elicits connection.  Thus I had my novel's themes: communication, family bonds, and connection.  From these I drew my plot, characters descriptions, and the issues facing my characters. Without giving any spoilers, here’s a brief preview of The Lowcountry Summer Trilogy.

THE SUMMER GIRLS - Marietta Muir, "Mamaw," is a grand dame of Charleston, SC, retired now at her ancestral summer home, Sea Breeze, on Sullivan's Island. Her granddaughters Carson, Eudora and Harper once adored vacations there, but it’s been years since they’ve visited and now the young women are estranged.  Mamaw fears once she is gone, the family bonds will fray so she invites her "summer girls" to celebrate her 80th birthday at Sea Breeze.  Mamaw, following the legacy of their pirate captain ancestor, drops a subtle promise of loot—pearl necklaces, priceless antique furniture, even the house—to lure her girls back home.  Once there, the three women uncover family secrets, failures, shortcomings and tragedies that further strain this family.  Their hope lies in a friendly wild dolphin, named Delphine.  And it is her harrowing journey that ties each of the stories together.

Each book in the trilogy focuses on one granddaughter, but the stories of all the women continue in all the books. In THE SUMMER GIRLS Carson takes center stage.  For years, Carson Muir has never really settled, certain only that a life without the ocean is a life half lived. Adrift and penniless in California, Carson is the first to return to Sea Breeze, wondering where things went wrong…until the sea brings her a minor miracle. Her astonishing bond with a dolphin helps Carson renew her relationships with her sisters and face the haunting memories of her ill-fated father. As the rhythms of the island open her heart, Carson begins to imagine the next steps toward her future.

SUMMER SOLSTICE (working title).  This book focuses on Dora, a southern woman who followed all "the rules" and is bitter when her marriage, her sense of self, her life falls apart.  Carson's continuing story has her traveling farther south to the gulf coast of Sarasota and to the Florida Keys.  Nine year old Nate, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, heads to Florida with Carson for life-changing  experiences with dolphins in managed care.  Readers get a glimpse of the magic-like power of communication between wild dolphins and autistic children.  This novel will reveal more of the unique ability dolphins have to connect with children of special needs in ways that perhaps no one and nothing else can.  I observed it first-hand during my research at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, FL and I assure you it is absolutely beautiful to watch.  This novel’s central focus is rehabilitation, the healing of self. Through this ongoing connection with one dolphin, Delphine, my main characters are challenged with the question of whether they can stretch beyond their comfort zone to communicate not just with animals but also with each other.  

SUMMER’S END- This book focuses on Harper, the youngest sister.  Unmarried, she lives with her British mother, a successful editor at a major publishing house in New York.  Harper is an academic, tied to the internet.  Her journey takes her to the history of Sullivan's Island and the early slave trading.  The main theme of this third and final novel is the question of release, or finding yourself.  It’s also a very serious question in the real world of marine science regarding dolphins, rehabilitation, and release to the wild.  But in the novel it’s also a critical issue in the lives of Mamaw’s “Summer Girls,” who are trying to re-connect with each other and heal themselves as well.  It’s the perfect conclusion for the trilogy--a summer season for three young women struggling to find their own identity, struggling to communicate, working to repair the bonds of sisterhood and reconnect with their family roots.  And during all of their challenges and discoveries they must also make the decision about the life of one dolphin.  Should Delphine be in human care or should she be returned to the wild, despite her injuries?
 

When all the installments of The Lowcountry Summer Trilogy are finally released, I hope that the reader is touched by this profoundly moving relationship my characters have with a wild dolphin. A relationship that changes the course of all their lives.  No character is left untouched--and I hope that will be true for you, as well.   Delphine will highlight the communication and development of these women and their relationships and their healing.

Of all the species I’ve worked with--turtles, butterflies, birds--the dolphin is the one I felt a very close and personal bond. Perhaps its their intelligence, or the fact that we are both mammals.  In THE SUMMER GIRLS, I believe you’ll feel that deep, emotional connection too.     

And here's a special offer: click here to enter the Lowcountry Weekend Sweepstakes! Celebrate the launch of the Lowcountry Summer Trilogy in the Lowcountry! Who wouldn't want a getaway for two, enjoying nights at the Wild Dunes Resort and a sunset dolphin cruise?  Good luck and I can't wait to meet the winner!

A Letter from Mamaw

In the opening of THE SUMMER GIRLS, three sisters each receive an invitation, handwritten on creamy stationery with navy trim sprayed with the scent of their grandmother, Marietta Muir, or ‘Mamaw.’  She informs the women of her one and only birthday wish—to have them join her at her beach house, Sea Breeze, on Sullivan’s Island, SC for a party celebrating her 80^th birthday.  The letter proves to be more than just an invitation for each of them.  It’s an unexpected lifeline and an opportunity to restore family connections, rekindle friendships and offer forgiveness.    

Here at my home, the mail runs every afternoon at approximately three o’clock.  That’s when the unmistakable sound of the mail truck fills the afternoon air.  I don’t often rush immediately to fetch the mail because I already know what the contents are—a credit card offer, weekly ad, a bill or two, and maybe a home realty flier.  It used to not be like that.  Remember the days, not long ago--before email, nationwide cellphone plans, and online video chats?  Checking the mailbox was a daily chore you actually looked forward to.  You never knew what you would find.  Maybe it was a letter from your mother because, well, back then calling long-distance was not something one would do on a daily basis.  Or it was a postcard from your best friend, sharing the highlights of her family’s vacation.  Or it was a letter written by a child on a sheet of lined notebook paper thanking you for a recent gift.  And let me not forget to mention the thrill of receiving a love letter from your special someone.  If it were really special, it may even be marked with a red-stained kiss or enveloped in the sweet scent of cologne. 

The frequency of wonderful letters like the aforementioned has dropped dramatically in this day and age where we can communicate with anyone around the world in truly an instant!  Thankfully, the art form of letter writing is not entirely dead…yet (though the skill of cursive handwriting sure seems to be on its deathbed). The occasional surprise still arrives, stuffed between the masses of junk mail and bills, magazines and circulars.  Thank goodness for grandchildren, weddings and annual holidays!  And I love that pause a special letter gives you while standing at the mailbox.  You’re so interested to see something ‘special’ that you’re ripping open the envelope even before you walk back in your front door (for those of you with a post office box, I know the situation is a little bit different, but all share the same thrill).

While it’s much more convenient and necessary at times to send a text message or email, I hope we don’t entirely forget our letter-writing etiquette.  Some of my most treasured items are cards, letters and notes received from friends and loved ones.  I am from a generation who still stuffs these scared items in a shoebox to look at again and again.  Each handwritten note conveys so much about the recipient, the sender and that moment in time.  What will today’s generation do to preserve their treasured notes?  Text messages and emails just don’t convey the same meaning as the old-fashioned letter.  That may be why the women in THE SUMMER GIRLS all give in to Mamaw’s snail-mailed request-- some with more reluctance than others.  But nonetheless, the letter stood out from the usual pile of junk and went straight to heart. 

How often do you write to someone?  What are your most treasured letters?  



THE SUMMER GIRLS in stores June 25th.
Order your copy today at www.maryalicemonroe.com

MEET THE CHARACTERS

I realize that I’m known for my commitment to the natural world through literature, which I love.  Thank you Pat Conroy for your recent flattering quote, "Mary Alice Monroe is the premiere nature writer among southern novelists”.  My home here in the Lowcountry of South Carolina is my inspiration.  Sea turtles, sweetgrass, birds of prey, monarchs, and now dolphins—each species played an integral part in several of my novels.  Yet, it’s important to note that while nature is the source of my inspiration for the novel, when I write a story, it’s always—first and foremost—about the characters.  Their lives, struggles, successes, failures, and epiphanies. 

Allow me to introduce you to the main characters--the Muir family--in my upcoming novel, THE SUMMER GIRLS.  The Muirs are a colorful bunch, descendants from a pirate!  It's the first book of THE LOWCOUNTRY SUMMER TRILOGY and in each book, a different woman will be focused on.  As an added fun tidbit, I've matched each character with the actor I envisioned as I wrote the book!

In stores June 25. Pre-order today.

Marietta ‘Mamaw’ Muir:  A grand dame in the Charleston society and a dowager, she moved from her home on East Bay in Charleston to live full-time at the family’s longtime Sullivan’s Island home, Sea Breeze.  If you are a Downton Abbey television series fan, like I am, Mamaw is a Maggie Smith kind of character.  She’s a bit haughty and makes pithy statements that everyone loves to hear!  Yet Mamaw is strong, even fearless, when it comes to her granddaughters--Eudora, Carson, and Harper--her "summer girls."  Mamaw has lived long enough to realize that she failed her only child, Parker, by enabling him.  Now, she strives not to manipulate her granddaughters. Rather, her desire is to restore the shattered ties among the three young women.  After all, they are her only remaining family.   Mamaw fears that when it's her turn to join the majority, the Muir family bonds will fray.

*Actress:  Maggie Smith in personality, but I see Ellen Burstyn.

Carson:  Considered Mamaw’s favorite by her other sisters, Carson is an athletic, beautiful, dark haired woman working in Los Angeles as a stills photographer for a TV series.  To her sisters, she appears to have it all.  Little do they know she'd survived a hand-to-mouth existence with their alcoholic father.  Her traumatic childhood caused attachment difficulties.  At the story's opening, Carson has no job and hardly two coins to rub together.  Carson was born to be on the water.  Her life is changed after an encounter with a charismatic wild dolphin.  A miraculous bond is formed between Carson and the dolphin, which she names Delphine.

* Actress:  Megan Fox

Eudora:  Better known as ‘Dora’, this once southern belle has been overwhelmed by her son’s needs and demands as a child with autism.   Dora has let herself go—neglecting her looks, personal needs, interests, and her marriage.   She is lost and bitter at the way her life has turned out after following all "the rules." With a divorce pending, Dora is forced to sell her home and start over.  All that Dora feels she has left in this world is her one and only child, Nate, and she clings to him.

*Actress:  A heavier Wendy McLendon-Covey

Harper:  The youngest and most petite of the sisters, Harper is reserved, even aloof--except when she drinks!  Harper grew up in New York and lived a privileged lifestyle. Yet she was emotionally neglected by her successful British mother, Georgiana.  At 28, Harper still lives at home and works as an assistant to her mother, an executive editor at a major New York publishing company.  Harper describes her mother as the Meryl Streep character in the film ‘Devil Wears Prada.’   Harper does not engage with humans. Rather, she is connected to the internet.  She's always on her smartphone, tablet or computer.   Nicknamed "the mouse" as a child, she still prefers to sit in a corner and watch the world from a safe distance.

*Actress:  Amanda Seyfried

Nate:  Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, nine year old Nate has an inability to communicate and connect with others, especially his mother Dora.  Nate is a very bright child whose world is opened up upon his first encounter with Delphine, the wild dolphin. 

Parker:  Deceased son of Mamaw, her only child, was handsome, debonair, and witty.  Yet in the end, the golden child was a disappointment in every department—relationships, fatherhood and career.  A wannabe writer, Parker rested on the laurels of his successful ancestors and depended on the handouts from his parents.  Parker named his daughters after successful writers--Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty and Harper Lee.  His alcoholism eventually led to his untimely death. 

Lucille:  First hired as the Muir’s family maid fifty years ago, Lucille is more a companion to Marietta Muir than a maid.  “Compact and stout as a well-fed marsh hen”, she is a trusted confidante of Marietta and unquestionably loyal in return.  Lucille is the one person who knows everything about the family, maybe even too much.  She’s a “call ‘em as I see ‘em” kind of person, honest, witty and wise, and always ready with a wry comment.

Blake: He’s a lifelong Lowcountry boy, devoted nature lover who knows the rivers and winding creeks as well as he knows himself.  His job as a biologist with NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sparks the attention of Carson.  Blake befriends Carson through the promise of kiteboarding lessons and eventually opens her up to the world of wild dolphins. And here’s a fun tidbit for fans of my novel SWIMMING LESSONS—Blake is the cousin of Ethan Legare who works at the South Carolina Aquarium and is the character who falls in love with the book’s protagonist, Toy Sooner.  The pair makes an appearance in THE SUMMER GIRLS, and in chapter 13 you’ll see what these characters are up to today!

Want to know more about the characters? Watch this video. And visit my YouTube Channel to see more.

Will this dysfunctional family be able to heal old wounds and bond together?  Will these disparate sisters rediscover that unabashed love they once shared as children? Can a single wild dolphin be the catalyst needed to help them all communicate?  Or will Mamaw’s ultimatum of one entire summer together at Sea Breeze be too much, too late? 

Find out June 25th.

  

Why Dolphins, Why Now

 

MAM and Jax sharing a laugh at Dolphin Research Center

I get asked that a lot.  It’s a great question, considering that every novel I’ve published in the last decade is rooted in the natural environment of my surroundings, which we here in Charleston, South Carolina call the Lowcountry.  Sea turtles, birds of prey, butterflies, wild shrimp—the list goes on.  These natural elements aren’t the story themselves, but the inspiration.  I draw my story themes from what I learn from my volunteering.  My story world is authentic and the animals are so interwoven with my characters’ lives that they themselves become characters.  By the end of the book, you find yourself rooting for them—for their survival in both the story world and the real world.  

I’ve always loved dolphins.  Who doesn’t?  It must be that beguiling smile! Of all the species I’ve ever worked with—and I’ve worked with many—no other animal is self-aware or as intelligent as the dolphin.  If you are fortunate to get close enough to look a dolphin in the eye, you know you’re being just as closely regarded, even studied.   Because I live by the Atlantic Ocean, I'm fortunate to see dolphins leap from the waves, swim in pods on the creeks, and chase boats near the harbor.  I had been yearning to write a novel about a dolphin for quite some time. I have many species I want to write about, a long list.  I wait for some sign from the universe, some tapping on my intuition, a whispering that tells me "choose this one now." 

One day, during a special meeting for the board members of the South Carolina Aquarium, I got ‘the sign’ when guest Philippe Cousteau urged me to write a book set against the issues threatening dolphins today.  I had just seen the film, The Cove, and Dr. Pat Fair from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) had informed us that almost half of the dolphins living in Charleston's estuarine waters were sick.   Shocking!  So I cannonballed off that proverbial dock into the world of wild dolphins and after three years of research surfaced with not one story but three! 

This was a first for me—intentionally writing a trilogy.  The Beach House series was written over a span of years as my work with the sea turtles expanded.  I jokingly say it was a trilogy ten years in the making.   In The Lowcountry Summer Trilogy, I am setting out to write a trilogy of books in which all of my characters are touched by the harrowing journey of one charismatic dolphin, Delphine.  It's the story of three granddaughters, one seaside summer, and one dolphin.   Sweet Delphine is the thread that connects all the books.  The first installment—THE SUMMER GIRLS—comes out June 25^th.  

In THE SUMMER GIRLS, the behavior of the dolphin and the interactions shared between Delphine and the women were inspired from my work with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Florida and research with NOAA in Charleston, South Carolina.  What the women do, out of love for the dolphin, is in fact dangerous to the species’ well-being. 

I've always felt that the signs and TV ads that inform the public DO NOT FEED THE DOLPHINS don't amount to a hill of beans when one is staring at that beguiling face in a boat or from the dock.  Everyone thinks, "Aw, I want to make contact.  I want to share a moment with this creature.  What harm can one fish, or sandwich, this one small something do?"  Now, imagine thousands of people thinking this...  This is my character, Carson's journey.  Through her eyes, I bring you to that very real moment and allow you to experience with her the natural consequences.  It's so much more powerful to experience the raw emotions and passions.  As a storyteller, I rely on the old adage: Show don't tell.

My hope is that when you finish the final page of THE SUMMER GIRLS, you’ll find yourself excited to see what will happen next to the sisters—Carson, Eudora and Harper--and to Delphine.  And through the characters’ intimate and emotional relationship with a wild dolphin, you’ll feel an even deeper love for the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin and see that you can make a difference. 

Want more?  Watch this brief interview about what compelled me to write about dolphins. 

You can also read an excerpt of THE SUMMER GIRLS at www.maryalicemonroe.com or my Author Facebook Page.  

What is it about dolphins that you love so much?  Share your story in the comments section.