Book Your Lunch with Mary Alice Monroe May 4, 2011

Book Your Lunch with bestselling Southern author Mary Alice Monroe on Wednesday, May 4th from 12-2 pm at The Lazy Goat in downtown Greenville. Tickets are $25 each and must be purchased in advance at http://www.bookyourlunch.com or by calling Fiction Addiction at 864-675-0540.

Each Book Your Lunch event includes a 20-minute reading or talk by the author, a Q&A session with the audience, a delicious lunch, and an onsite booksigning session. Books may be purchased from Fiction Addiction at or prior to the event.

Join us for a rare chance to meet bestselling Southern novelist Mary Alice Monroe. In her latest novel, The Butterfly’s Daughter (Gallery Books, hardcover, $25.00), she once again delivers a powerful and compelling novel of self-discovery that parallels an awe-inspiring event in nature.

Four very different women embark on a transformational journey that follows the migrating monarchs across the United States to Mexico. The story begins when Luz Avila’s grandmother, the local butterfly lady, purchases an old, orange VW bug for a road trip home to Mexico. When she unexpectedly dies, Luz is inspired to take her grandmother’s ashes home. In the manner of the Aztec myth of the goddess who brings light to the world, Luz attracts a collection of lost women, each seeking change in their lives. The Mexican people believe the monarchs are the spirits of the recently departed, and Luz taps into ancient rituals and myths as she follows the spectacular, glittering river of orange monarchs in the sky to home.

About the author:
Mary Alice Monroe claims much of her creative spark came from her large and very close family. Growing up, she and her nine brothers and sisters wrote and performed in their own plays and musicals. Her teachers recognized her talent and encouraged her to write. She first pursued nonfiction and studied journalism. Later, she was the assistant to the General Editor for Encyclopedia Britannica and worked with world famous artists, authors, composers, and scientists as EB III was developed.

After an extended trip to Japan with her husband, Mary Alice studied Asian culture in earnest. She was awarded a fellowship and earned her master’s degree in Asian Studies and became bilingual in Japanese. Later, she helped establish a government-funded English as a Second Language program for Southeast Asian refugees. Working with immigrants and helping them integrate into American society, Mary Alice co-authored an English-language survival text.

Not until years later did fate intervene. When her doctor confined her to bed for the final months of her pregnancy, Mary Alice’s husband handed her a yellow notepad and pencil and urged her to write the novel she had always dreamed about. Knowing she might never again have that gift of time, she wrote and wrote. “I gave birth to a baby and a book,” says the author.

A dozen books later, Mary Alice has found her voice in fiction. Although known for her intimate portrayals of women’s lives, her writing has gained added purpose and depth with her move to the Lowcountry. An active environmentalist, she draws themes for her novels from nature and the parallels with human nature, thus drawing attention to various endangered species and the human connection to the natural world.

Mary Alice is involved with several environmental groups and is on the board of the South Carolina Aquarium. Her work with these groups provided the inspiration for her novels The Beach House, Skyward, Sweetgrass, Swimming Lessons, her children’s book, Turtle Summer, Time is a River, and Last Light over Carolina.

Official Website: http://www.bookyourlunch.com