ON OCEAN BOULEVARD by Mary Alice Monroe
Years ago there was a movie titled “The Secret Garden”. It was all about a little girl who discovered a secret garden on her family’s estate. The movie was in black and white except for the times the little girl entered the garden. Then it was all in technicolor. Such is the case with Mary Alice Monroe’s new novel ON OCEAN BOULEVARD. No matter how black and white your world may be feeling once you enter these pages everything is suddenly in technicolor.
The story focuses on two women Linnea, a woman who has pursued her California dream (haven’t we all). Now she is returning to Charleston and the low country jobless and with her once believed true love left behind. At home she finds comfort in the goodness and grace of her aunt Cara, a woman of many accomplishments.
In this sun drenched, breeze kissed world that Mary Alice describes a story continues of people you have learned to love over the course of Monroe’s “Beach House” books. They are a little older, a little wiser but still with challenges ahead of them. They have real problems but most are solved by uniting with friends and family.
Of course any Monroe book is going to have a “creature” theme and in this book it is loggerhead turtles. Mary Alice Monroe is a dedicated activist when it comes to these turtles and she puts her talent where her heart is. As we live through the adventures and misadventures of Linnea and Carla we learn a great deal about these turtles and their plight. This information flows effortlessly through the narrative and enhances the overall enjoyment of the tale.
There is a calm elegance to the writing of Mary Alice Monroe. She captures the readers imagination completely with her stories of good people facing some bad times, but she always does it in a way that inspires as well as enlightens. It is a mannered style of writing that is so particular to Monroe’s art of storytelling.
As you move quickly through the pages of ON OCEAN BOULEVARD you find yourself being completely absorbed by the lay of the land. You can feel the heat of the sun and the coolness of the breeze. You can even hear the ocean waves lapping the shore. It is a feeling of place that few authors can create.
We only get one Mary Alice Monroe novel a year so savor ON OCEAN BOULEVARD. It will have to hold us until sumer rolls around again and she is ready to take us onto her technicolor world once more.
ON OCEAN BOULEVARD is published by Gallery Books. It contains 384 pages and sells for $21.59.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
