Fundraiser for Southern Lit Alliance

Luncheon featuring New York Times Bestselling Author, Mary Alice Monroe

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Wednesday, June 12, 2019

11:30 a.m.

Stratton Hall

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Individual Ticket: $40

Table: $320

V.I.P. Ticket: $80 (SOLD OUT)

(Vegetarian meals available.  Indicate in registration)

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The V.I.P. ticket includes the luncheon, an intimate reception after the event with Mary Alice Monroe, a copy of her latest book, The Summer Guests, and a guaranteed book signing.

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Group Contest!

Have a book club or organization coming? The group with the most attendees at the event will win a separate wine and cheese party to be held at the Arts Building (dates to be mutually agreed upon.) Be sure and list your group name when you register!

The Barnett Prize for Local Distinguished Author will also be presented at the luncheon.   This annual award recognizes the talents and success of some of our best authors in Chattanooga

Also by Grace Healthcare and Hamico Foundation

About Mary Alice Monroe

We are delighted to host New York Times bestselling author, Mary Alice Monroe, for this distinguished event. Mary Alice Monroe is known for fiction that explores the compelling parallels between nature and human nature. Many of her novels deal with environmental issues. For example, The Beach House and Swimming Lessons refer to the plight of injured sea turtles.

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Monroe currently resides in South Carolina, and many of her novels are set in the southern United States and feature "strong Southern women". Her novel Time Is a River is about breast cancer survivors in a fly-fishing group in North Carolina, and Last Light Over Carolina describes the life and times of the shrimping industry.

Her novels have achieved national acclaim, including from the New York Times, USA Today and SIBA. She has received numerous awards, including several Readers’ Choice Awards; the 2014 South Carolina Book Festival Award for Excellence in Writing; the 2015 S.W. Florida Book Festival Distinguished Author Award; RT Lifetime Achievement Award; and the 2008 South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing. Most recently, Monroe was named by the South Carolina Academy of Authors as a 2018 inductee of the Literary Hall of Fame. In 2011, her novel The Butterfly’s Daughter won the International Book Award for Green Fiction. It was also selected as a finalist for the 2012 Book of the Year by SIBA.

About The Summer Guests (June 2019)

Summer is a beautiful time on the Southern Coast – the ocean is warm, the peach trees are in full bloom, and the sweet tea is icy. But beneath the calm surface bubbles a threat: it’s also hurricane season. What would you bring with you when you flee? What do you treasure? New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe explores these questions in her highly anticipated new stand-alone novel The Summer Guests in which a hurricane forces a group of eclectic strangers to escape the storm's path.

As the impending Hurricane Noelle approaches the southeastern coast, an illustrious cast of characters evacuate to the scenic horse farm of their friends, Charles and Grace Phillips, in the mountains of North Carolina. Among the guests include: famous equestrian Javier Angel de la Cruz, horse breeder Gerta Klug and her Olympic-aspiring daughter Elise, the Phillips’s daughter Moira and her rescue dogs, make-up artist Hannah McLain, and fan-favorite Beach House resident Cara Rutledge. They bring with them only the few treasured possessions they can carry. Strangers to all but the Phillips, they must ride out the storm together.

During the course of one of the most challenging weeks of their lives, relationships are put to the test as the evacuees are forced to confront the unresolved issues they have with themselves and with each other. But as the storm passes, they realize that what really matters wasn’t what they brought with them to the mountains: but what they’ll take with them once they leave.

A heartwarming and evocative story of self-discovery, love, and redemption, The Summer Guests explores how bonds and new beginnings are born from natural disasters and how, even during the worst of circumstances—or perhaps because of them—you discover what is most important in life.