I FELL IN LOVE WITH PAT CONROY

          



            I fell in love with Pat Conroy when I was in my thirties. He wooed me with his smooth talking, his mesmerizing metaphors, his biting Irish humor. He had me at “My wound is geography.” My love grew with each book of his that I read. I caressed the pages, poring over his words.

            Many people associate Pat Conroy with his vivid, heartbreakingly accurate descriptions of his dysfunctional family. They discuss the relationships between mother and son, brother and sister, and most certainly, father and son.

            When I think of Pat Conroy, however, I always connect with his sultry, salty descriptions of a landscape we lovingly call the Lowcountry. His passion for the vast, seductive wetlands teeming with life is vividly portrayed on every page. He reveals how the ocean and creeks provide a feast so that even the poorest of men can eat like a king. Conroy brings us fully into his story world, not only in the hearts of minds of his characters, but in the sights, scents and sounds of this unique part of the South he calls home.

            I, too, write stories set in the Lowcountry. I am inspired by this architect of words, this writer I have fallen in love with. His words sustain me. Over the past years I’ve been fortunate to meet Pat and call him friend. We share a love of the landscape and found a common ground as warriors to protect it. But I do not compare myself to Pat Conroy. Nor should any other writer of the Lowcountry, not even the South. We all owe a debt to this literary groundbreaker. There is only one Prince of Tides.  

           Join us Oct. 29-31 in Beaufort, SC for "Pat Conroy at 70," a literary festival celebrating South Carolina's prince of titles.  Click here for details. 

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.