Monroe - Beach house memories. [Bk. 2]

Beach House Memories

Mary Alice Monroe

Reading Group Guide

Introduction

In the summer of 1974, Olive Lovie Rutledge hosts a formal dinner party for her unappreciative husband in their lovely home in a privileged Charleston neighborhood. The following morning she takes her two children to Isle of Palmsa nearby barrier island off the coast of South Carolina where her family has a modest beach cottage. Behind closed doors, and exhausted from keeping up appearances, Lovie finds solace, happiness, and fulfillment at the beach. But when a handsome biologist arrives to research the status of nesting turtlesa project that is Lovies passionshe finds herself falling in love over the course of the summer, with devastating consequences.

This is an unforgettable tale of marriage, resilience, and one womans private strength.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. What are your first impressions of Lovie? Does she seem satisfied with her life and current situation?

2. Discuss the differences between the expectations of a woman/wife in 1974 when the story takes place, and today. Are there regional differences? How does Lovies expectations compare to your own?

3. Why do you think Lovie is so protective of her daughter when Stratton and Dee Dee both suggest Cara needs to learn better manners and be more ladylike? Have cotillions, debutante balls, etc. disappeared in your area? Or have they seen a renewed interest?

4. Lovie thinks of the beach house as returning home, where things felt, constant, fixed, and reassuring. Why does she feel this way about Primrose Cottage as compared to her house in Charleston?

5. Why do you think Lovies friend Flo never married? What is different about Flo and Lovie? How would a woman of Florence Prescotts standards and values measure in todays world?

6. Lovie draws parallels between her role as a woman and mother and the mother sea turtles that swim hundreds of miles to crawl onto shore and lay their eggs. What aspects offered Lovie strength and hope in her desperate moments? What other lessons can you point out that Lovie has learned from the sea turtles?

7. In Chapter Five, the mayor of Isle of Palms says at a community meeting, Theres always a price to pay for progress... Do you think that threatening the nests of the sea turtles was a price worth paying on Isle of Palms? What would you do if you were a citizen of such a community? Discuss what programs are in place in your community for conservation, recycling, etc while considering Russell Bennetts comment that the issue was not local, but global.

8. Dr. Bennett offends Lovie in their first meeting by unintentionally belittling her interest in the sea turtles. How did his opinion of her change as he read further into her records?

9. What significance does signing the notebook at The Point have for Lovie, and for Cara?

10. Compare and contrast the relationship between the novels mother-daughter pairs: Cara and Lovie; Lovie and Dee Dee; and Flo and Miranda. What does each mother want for her daughter? What does each daughter want from her mother? Do you think the mothers and daughters, both in Beach House Memories and in your own experience, are doomed to repeat the same patterns in their relationships?

11. How were the issues of class, womens rights, and spousal abuse handled in 1974 and how have things changed in modern times? What choices do women today have in cases of abuse? Do you think abuse against women crosses economic lines?

12. In chapter thirteen, Dr. Bennett says to Lovie: Thats the magic of youth. They have complete and utter faith. They believe. Do you think that the ability to have faith fades with age? Explain your answer.

13. Why does Lovie feel so compelled to continue her work with the sea turtles in years to come? How does her vocation complete, fulfill, and sustain her through the years? What do you think is a deeper meaning for Lovie?

14. Do you think Lovie makes the right choice in the end of the novel? Why or why not? What would you have done if you were in her position? Do you think she would have made the same decision if she were 39 in the year 2012?

15. Discuss how Lovies Sea Turtle Journal impacted her life. Do you keep a journal? If so, how does it impact your life?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Bring the novels setting to life by serving some good, old-fashioned Southern cooking. Consider what Lovie and Dr. Bennett had at their dinner on the island for inspiration. For more inspiration for meal ideas, visit www.southernliving.com/food/kitchen-assistant/southern-cooking-recipes-00417000069475.

2. Learn more about marine life by visiting your local aquarium. Talk to experts like Dr. Bennett about what is being done to minimize the impact of development on marine life.

3. If you live near a beach or state park, go with your book club members to volunteer to help clean up for a day. Reflect on the passion that Lovie had for keeping the beaches safe and clean for the sea turtles. What did you and your book club members learn from your day of volunteering?

MARY ALICE MONROE is the New York Times bestselling author of The Butterflys Daughter, Last Light over Carolina, and Time Is a River for Gallery Books. The recipient of the 2008 Award for Writing from the South Carolina Center for the Book, she is also an active conservationist in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Visit her at www.maryalicemonroe.com.

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Also by Mary Alice Monroe

THE BUTTERFLYS DAUGHTER

LAST LIGHT OVER CAROLINA

TIME IS A RIVER

Gallery Books

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New York, NY 10020

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2012 by Mary Alice Monroe, Ltd.

Excerpt from Saving Sea Turtles by James R. Spotila reprinted by permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books hardcover edition May 2012

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Interior designed by Julie Schroeder

Jacket design by Susan Zucker

Jacket photograph of beach by iStockphoto/Maliketh; hat by iStockphoto/Evemilla

Author photograph by Barbara J. Bergwerf

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Monroe, Mary Alice.

Beach house memories / Mary Alice Monroe.1st Gallery Books hardcover ed.

p. cm.

1. Self-realization in womenFiction. 2. MarriageFiction. 3. South CarolinaFiction. I. Title.

PS3563.O529B44 2012

813'.54dc23 2012004099

ISBN 978-1-4391-7066-3

ISBN 978-1-4391-7104-2 (ebook)

This book is dedicated to Marguerite, my dear sister and brilliant muse.