Mary Alice Monroe

Late August is a beautiful time on the Southern coast -- the peach trees are ripe, the ocean is warm, and the sweet tea is icy. A perfect time to enjoy the rocking chairs on the porch. But beneath the calm surface bubbles a threat: it's also peak hurricane season. When a hurricane threatens the coasts of Florida and South Carolina, an eclectic group of evacuees flees for the farm of their friends Grace and Charles Phillips in North Carolina: the Phillips's...

"It is summer's end and Sea Breeze, the family's beloved estate on Sullivan's Island, must be sold. It is an emotional time of transition as Mamaw and the three sisters each must face loss and find a new place in the world. Harper, the youngest sister, arrived at Sea Breeze intending to stay only a weekend, but a rift with her wealthy, influential mother left her without direction or a home. During this remarkable summer, free from her mother's tyranny...

The New York Times–bestselling author paints an intimate portrait of a family's struggle to come together and protect their historic South Carolina home. Sweetgrass is a historic tract of land in South Carolina that has been home to the Blakely family for eight generations. But Sweetgrass—named for the indigenous grass that grows in the area—is in trouble. Taxes are skyrocketing. Bulldozers are leveling the surrounding properties. And the Blakelys...

Three granddaughters. Three months. One summer house. In this trilogy set on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, the author captures the complex relationships between three half sisters scattered across the country, and a grandmother determined to help them rediscover their family bonds. Set amid ancient live oaks and palmettos, overlooking the water, historic Sea Breeze is Marietta Muir's ancestral summer home. Her granddaughters once adored vacations...

In this tale that explores the themes of class, women's rights and domestic abuse in the 1970s American South, the author returns to her classic Southern setting in the Isle of Palms with the sequel to her novel The Beach House. She weaves together issues of class, women's rights, and domestic abuse set in the tumultuous South during the 1970s as she tells the story of Olivia, "Lovie" Rutledge, the mother from The Beach House. As Lovie sits on the...

"The coming of Spring usually means renewal, but for Linnea Rutledge, Spring 2020 threatens stagnation. Linnea faces another layoff, this time from the aquarium she adores. For her-and her family-finances, emotions, and health teeter at the brink. To complicate matters, her new love interest, Gordon, struggles to return to the Isle of Palms from England. Meanwhile, her old flame, John, turns up from California and is quarantining next door. She tries...

Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of The Beach House! The most fulfilling journey is one that leads back home...
"Mary Alice Monroe is helping to redefine the beauty and magic of the Carolina Lowcountry. Every book she has written has felt like a homecoming to me."
—Pat Conroy
Twenty years ago, Caretta Rutledge left her Southern roots far behind for a successful career as a businesswoman in Chicago. But an unusual...

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Lowcountry Summer trilogy, a poignant and moving story of one woman making her way from Wisconsin to Mexico, learning her family's history and, subsequently, the power of forgiveness.
Every year, the monarch butterflies—las mariposas—fly more than two thousand miles on fragile wings to return to their winter home in Mexico. Now Luz Avila makes that same perilous...

Toy Sooner has dealt with enough rough waves in her troubled past. It's only been through the enduring love of a close-knit group of women on this tiny island that she's finally started to find her footing. But as new challenges in her career arise for this young single mother, the choices and demons of her past will catch up to her. Soon Toy will learn that, like the steadfast sea turtles she cares for, a mother must find the strength within...

E.R. nurse Ella Majors has seen all the misery that she can handle. Burned-out and unsure of her next step, she accepts the temporary position as caregiver to Marion Henderson, a frightened five-year-old who suffers from juvenile diabetes.

But Ella soon realizes there is more sorrow in the isolated home than the little girl's illness can account for. Harris Henderson, a single father, seems better able to deal with the wild birds he...