Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb 2019

62 www.ReadMPM.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com BY SAMANTHA CONNORS A Prelude to Romance Lowcountry LovewithMary AliceMonroe A n award-winning author and well-known environmentalist, Mary Alice Monroe is one of Charleston’s most celebrated romance writers, interweaving tales of love, landscape and marine animals into captivating novels. “The Lowcountry is seductive. It lures you to secret natural places,” stated Monroe. “It’s full of surprises everywhere you turn – even in the city, history pervades. You can’t help but fall in love … and fall in love with this place.” Which is why Charleston and the barrier island Isle of Palms play such a vital role in Monroe’s work. She wrote her first novel while on bed rest during her third pregnancy. “My husband came to me with a pen and a legal pad, and he said, ‘Mary Alice, for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve wanted to write a novel, but you didn’t have the time. Now you have the time.’” At this point in her life, Monroe and her husband were still living in Washington, D.C., so she became involved with an area group called Romance Writers of America, which helped guide her through the process of finding an agent and getting that first novel published. From then on, Monroe’s work has delighted her readers, Photos courtesy of Angela May.