Mostly Fridays, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., $25 each
Literary luncheons with exciting authors at area restaurants
The Moveable Feast is held at area restaurants throughout the year on Fridays, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. On occasion, an author’s book tour schedule is accommodated with a mid-week Moveable Feast. For each feast, the chef prepares an exquisite menu, typically unavailable during the restaurant’s public hours. The presentation precedes the meal. Individuals, couples, friends, book clubs and other groups are assigned table seating. Each literary luncheon is followed by a book signing at Litchfield Books for those unable to participate in the feast. Each feast is $25 (occasionally more); books are available at a 10% discount from Litchfield Books. For schedules and reservations, call 843-235-9600 or www.classatpawleys.com.
May 6 – Mary Alice Monroe (A Lowcountry Wedding) at Pawleys Plantation
Following the trilogy of the Lowcountry Summer series, nothing could be more enchanting than a summer wedding – or two! – in Charleston’s fabled lowcountry. A centuries-old plantation, an avenue of ancient oaks dripping moss, a storied ballroom, a sand dune at sunset… Yet when a stranger arrives, a long held family secret could silence the bells ringing for the Muir sisters. Scandals surface, family bonds are questioned, and promises are broken and renewed. In A Lowcountry Wedding, Monroe delves into the heart of marriage, commitment, and family ties. Huffington Post calls the Lowcountry Summer series “the perfect beach read and a whole lot more.” (Mary Alice has something up her sleeve for this Moveable Feast, so just a tip: If you have a favorite summer wedding hat, you might just want to don it!)
FULL! May 13 – John Hart (Redemption Road) at Kimbel’s, Wachesaw
After a five-year hiatus, the only author to win back-to-back Edgars for best novel raises the bar for the classic thriller, deftly blending tension, pacing and suspense with characters so richly drawn and prose so elegant as to be worthy of being called literature. David Baldacci blurbs, “The prologue is heart-wrenching and the chapters thereafter pull you in like matter to a black hole.” Harlan Coben raves, “Big, bold, and impossible to put down, Redemption Road had me from page one.” But we knew all that – John Hart has been a Moveable Feast treasured guest since his first novel in 2006 and for each successive bestseller.
TUESDAY, May 17 – Martha Hall Kelly (Lilac Girls) at Sea View Inn, Pawleys Island
Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this powerful debut novel reveals an incredible story of love, redemption, and terrible secrets that were hidden for decades. The lives of three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and one is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents – from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland – as two strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten. In Lilac Girls, Martha Hall Kelly has crafted a remarkable novel of unsung women and their quest for love, freedom, and second chances. It is a story that will keep readers bonded with the characters, searching for the truth, until the final pages.
May 20 – Jennie Holton Fant (The Travelers’ Charleston) at Carefree Catering
The Travelers’ Charleston is an innovative collection of firsthand narratives that document the history of the South Carolina lowcountry region, specifically the Charleston area, from 1666 until the start of the Civil War. Jennie Holton Fant has compiled and edited a rich and comprehensive history as seen through the eyes of writers from outside the South. She provides a selection of unique texts that include the travelogues, travel narratives, letters, and memoirs of a diverse array of travelers who described the region over time. Further Fant has mined her material not only for validity but to identify any people her travelers encounter or events they describe. She augments her resources with detailed annotations and provides a wealth of information that enhances the significance of the texts.
May 27 – Mary Kay Andrews (The Weekenders) at Pawleys Plantation
Some people stay all summer long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Some people come only for the weekends – and it’s something they look forward to all week long. When Riley Griggs is waiting for her husband to arrive at the ferry one Friday afternoon, she is instead served with papers informing her that her island home is being foreclosed. To make matters worse, her husband is nowhere to be found. She turns to her island friends for help and support, but each of them has their own secrets and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens. Cocktail parties and crab boil aside, Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything.
FULL! *TUESDAY, May 31 – Dorothea Benton Frank (All Summer Long)
at Ocean Club, Grande Dunes, Myrtle Beach
All Summer Long follows one charming New York couple – glamorous interior designer Olivia Ritchie and her husband Nicholas, a true southern gentleman from Charleston – as they are swept up into the world of the ultra-rich and travel the globe with a cast of zany eccentrics over one tumultuous, hot summer, and find themselves pondering the next step of their lives. This is a story of how plans evolve and lives change in unexpected ways, how even those who have everything are looking for something more to fulfill them and even the most successful can often struggle to get things together. It asks the ultimate question: can money buy happiness? From Sullivans Island to Necker Island to the beaches of Southern Spain, we’ll come to recognize the face of true love, the kind that deepens and endures but only because one woman makes a tremendous leap of faith. And that leap changes them all. *This special Moveable Feast, featuring the ever-popular Dottie Frank, is dedicated to Pat Conroy, with book and feast proceeds benefitting pancreatic cancer research. The fee is $55 and includes the book.
