Thomas Kelso will speak at Sunset River Gallery on Thursday, Feb. 9 from 11 a.m. to 12 noon as part of its monthly Coffee With the Authors program. The event is free, but seating is limited so the gallery requests reservations. Coffee, tea, and breakfast treats will be served.
Kelso is a practicing local orthopedic physician who is also well known for his thrillers, which are based on current innovations in medicine and science. His current novel is Stability Island, third in his Mark Thurman series. It’s an ordinary day in the ER for orthopedic surgeon Thurman until he finds a mysterious sphere that defies gravity. Excitement and danger build in a race against time as Thurman once again joins forces with his former Naval Special Warfare Development Group to prevent one of modern history’s most significant scientific discoveries from falling into the wrong hands.
Previous medical thrillers in the Mark Furman books include Fractured and Hyperion’s Fracture. All three are available at the gallery for book-signing.
Sixty vendors (art, crafts, books, food and music) will stretch around the oak-covered corner of Willbrook Blvd. and Ocean Highway. A great day for browsing, noshing, shopping and just welcoming the fall.
Visit CLASS Publishing’s tent where a dozen authors will be available to chat and sign their books – thoughtful and appreciated choices for the gift giving season!
The Moveable Feast offers monthly luncheons in the Myrtle Beach area featuring presenters on a broad range of cultural topics (music, art, drama, history, and some literature, mostly by local and CLASS-published authors). Each is individually priced.
Friday, Oct. 7 ~ John Lane & Phil Wilkinson (Seven Days on the Santee Delta) at Inlet Affairs ($30) A richly embroidered coastal South Carolina tapestry of three strands: Philip Wilkinson’s stunning photos of people, wildlife and weather; his homespun stories of the place and its conservation history; and a seven-part narrative by award-winning environmental writer and Wofford College professor John Lane who shares what he has learned firsthand in the field with Phil. With publication of this remarkable coffee-table book, the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust, Evening Post Books and a generous group of conservation-minded sponsors brings Wilkinson’s legacy to a wider public and celebrates the beauty and value of a remarkably wild and vital place. Enjoy a narrated slide presentation of this remarkable publication.
Tuesday, Oct. 11 ~ at Caffe Piccolo ($25)
South Carolina poet Libby Bernardin is the author of Stones Ripe for Sowing (Press 53, 2018) and two chapbooks, The Book of Myth (SC Poetry Initiative, 2009) and Layers of Song (Finishing Line Press, 2011). Journal publications include The Asheville Poetry Review, Southern Poetry Review, Kakalak. She has won poetry awards from the Poetry Society of South Carolina and the North Carolina Poetry Society, and has served as co-director of the highly respected Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series for the past 16 years. A retired English teacher from the University of South Carolina, she has conducted poetry workshops for Coastal Carolina University’s OLLI program, as well as for Georgetown County Library. Libby is a lifetime member of the Board of Governors of the SC Academy of Authors. Her new book, House in Need of Mooring (Press 53, 2022) is yet another testament to the silver lining of the pandemic.
Tues., Oct. 18 ~ FOWL Annual Luncheon & Auction “Together Again …with Friends,” Pawleys Plantation 11 AM-1:30 PM, $38, tickets available at the Friends Center in Waccamaw Library or from Linda Ketron!
Tuesday, Oct. 25 ~ Robin Salmon (Brookgreen 101: A Curator’s Legacy) at Ocean One, Litchfield ($30) For two of her nearly five decades at Brookgreen Gardens, Vice President of Historical and Art Collections and Curator of Sculpture Robin Salmon has delivered monthly lectures affectionately known as “Brookgreen 101.” Begun in 2006 as an offshoot of public lectures she had given through the years, the series was drawn from books and articles she’d written, as well as from her vast knowledge of the history of the property, collections, and the lives of the founders. Intended as an ongoing informational seminar to augment staff and volunteer training, the program was an informal hour of shared facts and insights that became a popular public series in 2018. This first collection of essays features favorite topics with illustrations where available. It is our hope that future volumes will preserve and make accessible the deep treasure chest of knowledge that is Robin Salmon.
Tuesday, Nov. 1 ~ Laurie Loewenstein (Funeral Train) at Pawleys Plantation’s Sawgrass Room ($30) In her gripping follow-up to the widely acclaimed Dust Bowl Mystery Death of a Rainmaker, Laurie Loewenstein brings 1930s Oklahoma evocatively to life. Already suffering the privations of the 1930s Dust Bowl, an Oklahoma town is further devastated when a passenger train derails—flooding its hospital with the dead and maimed. Among the seriously wounded is Etha, wife of Sheriff Temple Jennings. Overwhelmed by worry for her, the sheriff must regain his footing to investigate the derailment, which rapidly develops into a case of sabotage. The following night, a local recluse is murdered. Temple has a hunch that this death is connected to the train wreck. But as he dissects the victim’s life with help from the recuperating and resourceful Etha, he discovers a tangle of records that make a number of townsfolk suspects in the murder. Temple’s investigations take place against the backdrop of the Great Depression—where bootlegging, petty extortion, courage, and bravado play out in equal measure. Death of a Rainmaker was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by both the Library Journal and NPR which characterized it as “a striking historical mystery…that is brooding and gritty and graced with authenticity.” It was a finalist for the 2019 Oklahoma Book Awards Laurie is on the fiction faculty of Wilkes University’s graduate level Creative Writing Program.
Saturday, Nov. 26 ~ Six Children’s Authors at Pawleys Tap & Pour ($30)
On Shop Small Saturday, The Moveable Feast and My Sister’s Books partner for a fabulous presentation by six area authors of works for “small readers,” followed by a delightful lunch at a fast-rising favorite among Pawleys eateries. Join us to hear Millie Doud (beloved author/illustrator of Caretta’s Great Adventure and of many Brookgreen Gardens’ books for children), Christine Thomas Doran (author of the Flash & Fancy books about playful otters on the Waccamaw River), Cindy Hedrick (champion of rescued animals recounted in her Tails from SC-Cares and Love at First Sight), Maura & Alyson Kenny (mother-/daughter-in-law team behind Mindful Santa), and … two more to be announced! The Moveable Feast is a “grown-ups” event (for parents, aunts and uncles, grands and even great-grands), then after the feast, the authors will migrate next door to the book store for sales and signing (kids are welcome there!!). Shop Small for Small Readers is a great opportunity to start a child’s library of autographed books.
Tuesday, Aug. 2 ~ Mary Perdue (Landaluce) at Caffe Piccolo ($35) When Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew retired from racing in 1978 to stand at stud at Spendthrift Farm, no one could be certain he would be a successful sire. But just four years later, his dark bay daughter Landaluce won the Hollywood Lassie Stakes by twenty-one lengths—a margin of victory that remains the largest ever in any race by a two-year-old at Hollywood Park. California horse racing had a new superstar, and Slew was launched on a stud career that would make him one of the most influential sires in North America. Like her father, Landaluce soon became a national celebrity, and was poised to become the next American super-horse. But those dreams ended when the two-year-old died in her stall at Santa Anita four months later, the victim of a swift and mysterious illness. Today, with her “I Love Luce” bumper stickers long gone, the filly has been largely forgotten. In Landaluce: The Story of Seattle Slew’s First Champion, Mary Perdue tells the story of a horse whose short but meteoric career could have changed racing history forever. Sparking comparisons to Ruffian, Landaluce helped elevate California horse racing to the national stage and could have been the first filly to ever win the Triple Crown. In telling this story, Perdue explores the lives and careers of Landaluce’s breeders, owners, and trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, as well as her famous sire Seattle Slew—and shows not only how one filly captured the imagination of racing fans across the country but also set the stage for another filly turned super-horse, Zenyatta, in the decades to come.
July 1 ~ Jamie Brenner (Gilt) at The Village House ($60 w/bk)
A luxurious and richly compelling new novel from the acclaimed author of Blush, about a famous family jewelry dynasty and the hidden past that could topple it all. One perfect diamond is all it takes to divide a family. Could one summer be enough to fix it? The Pavlin family built an empire on love. As the first jewelers to sell diamond rings exclusively for proposals, they started a tradition that has defined engagements ever since. But when an ill-fated publicity stunt pits the three Pavlin sisters against one another for a famous family jewel, their bond is broken. No ordinary diamond ring, the Electric Rose splinters the sisters, leaving one unlucky in love, one escaping to the shores of Cape Cod, and the other, ultimately, dead. Now, over a decade later, Gemma Maybrook is still reconciling the reality of her mother’s death. Left orphaned and cast out by her family after the tragic accident, Gemma is ready to reclaim what should have been hers: the Electric Rose. And, as a budding jewelry designer in her own right, Gemma isn’t just planning on recovering her mother’s lost memento, she’s coming back for everything. From Manhattan’s tony Fifth Avenue to the vibrant sands of Provincetown, Gilt follows the Pavlin women as they are forced to confront the mistakes of the past if they have any hope of finding love and happiness of their own.
July 8 ~ Nancy Naigle (What Remains True) at Litchfield Country Club ($35)
An uplifting novel about three months that may change three lives—and lead to love—from USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle. Working at a little shop on Main Street in a small town is exactly the break that executive Merry Anna Foster needs following her divorce. She’s made a bet with her ex-husband that she can live on the amount of money she’s giving him in alimony. If she can do it, then Kevin will have to stop complaining and leave her alone. But after three months of this new life, will she even want to leave Antler Creek? Adam Lockwood, bull rider and owner of the local feedstore, is having the best year of his rodeo career. He’s also a bit distracted by the pretty new neighbor living in his old bunkhouse. But Adam has no time for matters of the heart. He’s got his future all mapped out, and that future doesn’t involve a woman just yet. It doesn’t involve parenting a little girl either. However, Carly Fowler still suddenly leaves five-year-old Zan—the daughter Adam didn’t know he had—in his care. Is it possible that the future holds a life even better than what Merry Anna and Adam had each dreamed of? One that includes both tenderness and even love—not just for each other but for Zan, too.
*July 15 ~ Viola Shipman (The Edge of Summer) at DeBordieu Colony Clubhouse ($40)
Reminiscent of the complex, uplifting family stories by Nancy Thayer, Sunny Hostin and Mary Alice Monroe, Viola Shipman’s poignant new novel explores the relationship between a curious woman and her secretive mother, taking readers from their hardscrabble life in the Ozarks to her search for answers along the sparkling shores of Lake Michigan. Devastated by the sudden death of her mother—a quiet, loving and intensely private Southern seamstress called Miss Mabel, who overflowed with pearls of Ozarks wisdom but never spoke of her own family—Sutton Douglas makes the impulsive decision to pack up and head north to the Michigan resort town where she believes she’ll find answers to the lifelong questions she’s had about not only her mother’s past but also her own place in the world. Recalling Miss Mabel’s sewing notions that were her childhood toys, Sutton buys a collection of buttons at an estate sale from Bonnie Lyons, the imposing matriarch of the lakeside community. Propelled by a handful of trinkets left behind by her mother and glimpses into the history of the magical lakeshore town, Sutton becomes tantalized by the possibility that Bonnie is the grandmother she never knew. But is she? As Sutton cautiously befriends Bonnie and is taken into her confidence, she begins to uncover the secrets about her family that Miss Mabel so carefully hid, and about the role that Sutton herself unwittingly played in it all.
July 22 ~ Colleen Coble (Edge of Dusk) at Inlet Affairs ($35)
In this new series, bestselling romantic-suspense author Colleen Coble returns to one of her most beloved towns, where familiar faces—and unsolved cases—await. Even though secrets lie off the coast of Rock Harbor, the truth will set Annie Pederson free—if it doesn’t kill her first. Nine-year-old Annie Pederson’s life changed the night her sister was kidnapped. The two had been outside playing on a dock, and Annie never forgave herself for her role in her sister’s disappearance. Twenty-four years later and now a law enforcement ranger, Annie is still searching for answers as she grieves a new loss: the death of her husband and parents in a boating accident. But Annie and her eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, aren’t the only people in the town of Rock Harbor whose lives have been marred by tragedy. While managing the property around the Tremolo Resort and Marina she inherited, Annie discovers a dead body floating in the cold Superior surf and begins to work with the sheriff’s office to tie the death to a series of other mysterious reports in the area. At the same time, her first love, Jon Dustan, returns after nine years away, reigniting the town’s memory of a cold case he’d been suspiciously linked to before he left to pursue his orthopedic residency. For the sake of her investigation and her heart, Annie tries to stay away. But avoiding Jon becomes impossible once Annie realizes she is being targeted by someone desperate to keep secrets from the past hidden.
July 29 ~ Jennifer Chiaverini (Switchboard Soldiers) at The Village House ($35)
From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini, a bold, revelatory novel about one of the great untold stories of World War I—the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, who broke down gender barriers in the military, smashed the workplace glass ceiling, and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to victory. In June 1917, General John Pershing arrived in France to establish American forces in Europe. He immediately found himself unable to communicate with troops in the field. Pershing needed operators who could swiftly and accurately connect multiple calls, speak fluent French and English, remain steady under fire, and be utterly discreet, since the calls often conveyed classified information.At the time, nearly all well-trained American telephone operators were women—but women were not permitted to enlist, or even to vote in most states. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army Signal Corps promptly began recruiting them.More than 7,600 women responded, including Grace Banker of New Jersey, a switchboard instructor with AT&T and an alumna of Barnard College; Marie Miossec, a Frenchwoman and aspiring opera singer; and Valerie DeSmedt, a twenty-year-old Pacific Telephone operator from Los Angeles, determined to strike a blow for her native Belgium.They were among the first women sworn into the U.S. Army under the Articles of War. The male soldiers they had replaced had needed one minute to connect each call. The switchboard soldiers could do it in ten seconds.The risk of death was real—the women worked as bombs fell around them—as was the threat of a deadly new disease: the Spanish Flu. Not all of the telephone operators would survive.The women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps served with honor and played an essential role in achieving the Allied victory. Their story has never been the focus of a novel…until now.
Check it out on Amazon. Our newest publication featuring a few friends’ and family pets and 99 pages to fill in the blanks with your own pet’s info.
This journal can contain all of the details about your pet, its health and any medications, all appointments, grooming, food choices and much more.
You might want a single journal for each if you have several fur babies. Complete a page or two anytime the pet has an appointment or a health issue or change of interests.
If your pet has any specific health or care issues, you need a complete record of it all in one place. Note any comments or diagnoses at each visit to the vet or the groomer.
Remind yourself when local registration or medical appointments need to be scheduled. Keeping a record of associated costs can be useful if you need to budget for any major upcoming expenses.
The journal can be useful in case of emergency or if you should need assistance from a caregiver. Take it with you if you travel with your pet.
Don’t hesitate to make notes of your pet’s antics or tricks which catch your attention. You’ll be glad to have sweet memories to look back on another day.
June 3 ~ Brooke Lea Foster (On Gin Lane) at Litchfield Country Club ($35)
An award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, The Atlantic, The Boston GlobeSunday Magazine, and HuffPost, among others, Foster is an alumna of The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of three nonfiction books and the novels
Summer Darlings and On Gin Lane. In the latter, Everleigh “Lee” Farrows thinks she finally has life all figured out: a handsome fiancé named Roland, a trust in her name, and a house in Bronxville waiting for her to fill it with three adorable children. That is, until Roland brings her out to the Hamptons for a summer that will change everything. From the regal inns to the farmland, the well-heeled New Yorkers to the Bohemian artists, the East End of Long Island is a hodge-podge of the changing American landscape in the late 1950s—and the perfect place for Lee to discover who she really is.
*THURSDAY, JUNE 9 ~ JAMES PATTERSON AT PAWLEYS PLANTATION ($70 w/bk)
(James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life)
Payment due upon reservation; if later you find you cannot attend, CLASS will refund your luncheon fee ($35) and your pre-paid autographed book will be available to pick up at the bookstore on June 10.
James Patterson by James Patterson is the most anticipated memoir of 2022. How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world? On the morning he was born, he nearly died. Growing up, he didn’t love to read. (That changed.) He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the poet Robert Lowell. While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line “I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us Kid.” He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party. He’s only been in love twice. Both times are amazing. Dolly Parton once sang “Happy Birthday” to James over the phone. She calls him J.J., for Jimmy James. Three American presidents have invited him to golf with them. So, how did a boy from small-town New York become the world’s most successful writer? How does he do it? He has always wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and reread so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart. As he says, “I’m still working on that one.”
*June 17 ~ Mary Alice Monroe & Angela May (Search for Treasure) at Kimbel’s ($60 w/bk)
This is the sequel to New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe’s The Islanders, a beautiful story of friendship, loss, and the healing power of nature. Jake Potter is back on Dewees Island for another summer with his grandmother, Honey, and his friends Macon and Lovie. Jake is excited that his dad will also be on the island as he continues to recover from his war injuries. Father and son must get used to a new normal, which isn’t easy. As a boy, his dad discovered treasure coins and stored them in an old tree fort on the island. Jake knows if he can find the tree fort, maybe his dad will be happy again – and he knows Macon and Lovie are the perfect fellow treasure hunters. The search for treasure is on! Meanwhile, Macon is adjusting to being a big brother, while Lovie is navigating a new relationship with the two visiting boys on the island. The treasure search leads them to battle some unwelcome guests on the island – both the two- and four-legged kind! On the Islanders’ biggest quest yet, the three friends realize that the treasures they really want in life were with them all along.
June 24 ~ Ali Brady (The Beach Trap) at Pawleys Plantation ($35)
When twelve-year-olds Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill meet at Camp Chickawah, they have an instant connection. But everything falls apart when they learn they’re not just best friends—they’re also half-sisters. Confused and betrayed, the girls break off all contact. Fifteen years later, when their father dies suddenly, Kat and Blake discover he’s left them a joint inheritance: the family beach house in Destin, Florida. The two sisters are immediately at odds. Blake, who has recently been demoted from regular nanny to dog nanny, wants to sell the house, while social media influencer Kat is desperate to hold on to the place where she lived so many happy memories. Kat and Blake reluctantly join forces to renovate the dilapidated house, with the understanding that Kat will try to buy Blake out at the end of the summer. The women clash as Blake’s renovation plans conflict with Kat’s creative vision; meanwhile, each sister finds herself drawn into a summer romance. As the weeks pass, the two women realize the most difficult project they face this summer will be coming to grips with their shared past—and learning how to become sisters. “Ali Brady” is the pen name of writing BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey. The Beach Trap is their first book together.
Have you ever begun reading a book to realize a few pages later than you already read it years ago? Do you remember if it’s worth re-reading or wish you had picked up something totally new?
Fiction or non-fiction readers sometimes keep a running list of book titles and/or authors. Sometimes that list is useful when shopping for more by a favorite author and for avoiding duplications.
Some readers write reviews to post online for benefitting the author and letting others know their thoughts about the books they read. Then some readers forget about a book as the last page turns.
Use this journal for keeping a list, also for recording a few thoughts about what you liked or disliked about each book. Use a page per book or more if you want.
Click any journal image to go directly to its Amazon page for ordering.
Meal Planning Journal
Easy Meal Planning 2 editions
Meal planning can be easy and fun, whether you like to cook or not. Use this journal to plan for a day or a week or to jump ahead with holiday or special event ideas.
Keep it handy for trips to the store so you will have notes of exactly what is needed for the coming days. The better you can plan a few days, or even weeks, in advance, the more likely you can reduce the number of trips to the store.
This is also helpful for planning what to do with leftovers, whether you want to freeze them for next week or repurpose them for another day. You won’t put something in the freezer or back of the fridge and let it be forgotten if you already have a plan for it.
Health Notes Journal
My Health Notes
This journal will be a helpful tool for keeping health and medical information all in one place.
Seniors or anyone undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or other ongoing treatments will need to keep track of appointments, medications and changing conditions.
Pregnant women and new parents often experience daily physical or emotional changes and frequent medical appointments.
Anyone can benefit from recording daily health conditions and even emotions. The healing power of writing can be useful for someone who doesn’t want to talk to a professional or even a friend about feelings and health issues.
Use a page or two a day or whenever you think of a question or learn something new as well as when you can express your thoughts or describe your health issues.
You might be surprised at how much it helps you daily, and then again at the end of a year or the end of a treatment routine when you can look back at your changing conditions.
Your journal will also be useful if you should need a caregiver to assist you in keeping track of appointments or medications.
Travel Notes Journal
Travel Notes
Use this journal first for your notes while planning a trip. It’s always helpful to have contacts and information in one place. Your advance research might reveal some sightseeing, shopping or dining which shouldn’t be missed.
Then use the journal during the trip itself to record a few details, memories or surprises. You will undoubtedly be shopping or eating at unexpected places or finding treats along the way. Saving a record of the good and the bad will help you when returning to the destination or when planning a different trip.
You might even meet people you want to remember, or you can start on ideas for the next trip.
Use a page for each trip or a page for each day, whatever works for you. It’s going to provide valuable information along with memories as you look back.
You can also use a section of this journal for your bucket list as you encounter ideas to be researched for your future travel.
May 6 ~ Mary Kay Andrews (The Homewreckers) at Pawleys Plantation ($60 w/bk)
Summer begins with Mary Kay Andrews, in The Homewreckers, a delightful summer listen about flipping houses, and finding true love…Hattie Kavanaugh went to work helping clean up restored homes for Kavanaugh & Son Restorations at eighteen; married the boss’s son at twenty; and was only twenty-five when her husband, Hank, was killed in a motorcycle accident. Broken hearted, but determined to continue the business of their dreams, she takes the life insurance money, buys a small house in a gentrifying neighborhood, flips it, then puts the money into her next project. But that house is a disaster and a money-loser, which rocks her confidence for years to come. Then, Hattie gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: star in a beach house renovation reality show called The Homewreckers, cast against a male lead who may be a love interest, or may be the ultimate antagonist. It’s a question of who will flip, and who will flop, and will Hattie ever get her happily-ever-after. Filled with Mary Kay Andrews’ trademark wit, warmth, junking trips, and house porn, The Homewreckers is a summer beach delight.
Tuesday, May 10 ~ Virginia & Dana Beach (Sandy Island … forever) at Ocean One ($35)
CLASS Publishing’s collaborative book of essays and images about Sandy Island, one of America’s largest, undeveloped islands, is now in its second edition, having sold out the first. The intent was to provide a satisfying armchair appreciation of what has been preserved and why it matters. Previous Moveable Feasts featured several of the book’s contributors, including Susan Hoffer McMillan, Robin Salmon, Linda Ketron, and Anne Malarich. We are delighted to host Virginia Beach, the essay author of “Saving Sandy Island,” and Dana Beach, one of the history makers of the efforts to guarantee the conservation of the island. If you already have a first edition, bring it for them to sign ~ they weren’t available during the pandemic! If you don’t have a copy yet, this book is a significant contribution to our local history and a beautiful “keeper.”
*May 13 ~ Chris Bohjalian (The Lioness) at DeBordieu Colony Clubhouse ($60 w/bk)
A luxurious African safari turns deadly for a Hollywood star and her entourage in this riveting historical thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant. Tanzania, 1964. When Katie Barstow, A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they envision giraffes gently eating leaves from the tall acacia trees, great swarms of wildebeests crossing the Mara River, and herds of zebras storming the sandy plains. Their glamorous guests—including Katie’s best friend, Carmen Tedesco, and Terrance Dutton, the celebrated Black actor who stars alongside Katie in the highly controversial film Tender Madness—will spend their days taking photos, and their evenings drinking chilled gin and tonics back at camp, as the local Tanzanian guides warm water for their baths. The wealthy Americans expect civilized adventure: fresh ice from the kerosene-powered ice maker, dinners of cooked gazelle meat, and plenty of stories to tell over lunch back on Rodeo Drive. What Katie and her glittering entourage do not expect is this: a kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russian mercenaries herding their hostages into Land Rovers, guns to their heads. As the powerful sun gives way to night, the gunmen shove them into abandoned huts and Katie Barstow, Hollywood royalty, prays for a simple thing: to see the sun rise one more time.
May 20 ~ Joy Callaway (The Greenbrier Resort) at Kimbel’s, Wachesaw ($35)
Setat The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in both 1908 and 1946, Callaway (author of The Fifth Avenue Artists Society and Secret Sisters) tells the story famed interior designer Dorothy Draper and how the historic retreat and the love she found there as a young woman influenced her bold shift from illustrious New York socialite to world-renowned decorator. 1908: The Greenbrier has been Dorothy Tuckerman’s escape for as long as she can recall—a summer resort nestled in West Virginia where American aristocracy can just be, a retreat surrounded by wilderness, unprotected by gates . . . a place completely unlike her home in Tuxedo Park, New York. This season, however, she’s nineteen, and the summer comes riddled with expectations that threaten to trap her within another set of walls—including an unwelcome marriage proposal from a family friend. But when an Italian racecar driver, Enzo Rossi, appears at The Greenbrier with his uncle, a former financial minister of Italy, igniting suspicion and upending everyone’s plans, Dorothy must come to terms with her definition of liberty, the price it may cost to be truly free, and a newly ignited passion to transform the very walls that once held her captive. Thirty-eight years later, Dorothy Draper returns to her beloved resort as the head of the first ever interior design firm, world famous and divorced from her high-profile physician husband. But The Greenbrier of 1946 is hardly the glamorous place she once knew. Transformed into a hospital during the war, the hotel is beaten, sterile, and in complete shambles. As Dorothy struggles to complete the most important project of her career, old secrets surface—secrets that threaten to snag the very fabric of the life she’s built—and she must come face to face with the girl she once was, the woman she’s become, and the resort that changed it all.
May 27 ~ Sarah McCoy (Mustique Island) at Inlet Affairs ($35)
From the New York Times bestselling author comes a compulsive, sun-splashed voyage of self-discovery with a wealthy divorcee and her two headstrong daughters in 1970s Mustique, the world’s most exclusive private island, where Princess Margaret and Mick Jagger were regulars and long-held secrets are the buried treasures.
Sunset River Marketplace art gallery in Calabash, NC is set to feature Holly Merker, who will speak about her book, Ornitherapy: For Your Body, Mind and Soul, on Thursday, April 28 from 11 a.m. – 12 noon as part of the gallery’s ongoing Coffee With the Authors series.
Merker, who co-wrote the book with Richard Crossley and Sophie Crossley, has a background in art therapy, but today uses birds and nature toward the same goals of well being in her work as an environmental educator and birding guide. She has worked as a professional birding instructor for National Audubon and many other organizations. Passionate about connecting young people to birds, she co-founded the Frontiers in Ornithology Symposium and has facilitated many young birder groups and teen birding camps.
According to the author, “Ornitherapy, or a more mindful approach to the observation of birds, benefits our mind, body, and souls. We’re pushed and pulled in many directions, no matter our age. If we allow birds and nature to slow us down, we are practicing a form of ‘selfcare.’ Research shows that exposure to nature actively reduces stress, depression, and anxiety, while helping build a stronger heart and immune system. Through observation, we can learn not only about birds, but gain insight into our own lives while exploring our connection to the world around us.”
This is a free event, but seating is limited so reservations are required. Call the gallery at 910.575.5999 to hold your spot. Sunset River Marketplace is located at 10283 Beach Drive SW (NC179) in Calabash, NC. Information about upcoming events may be found at the gallery’s website (www.sunsetrivermarketplace.com) and on the gallery’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
