Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice
Monroe
Published: May 13,
2025 by William Morrow
Genre: Historical
Fiction, Southern Fiction
1908: The Lowcountry of South Carolina is at the cusp of change. Mayfield, the grand estate held for generations by the Rivers family, is the treasured home of young Eliza. Free spirited, she refuses to be confined by societal norms. Instead, Eliza revels in exploring the golden fields and sparkling ponds of Mayfield, observing wildlife, and riding horses.
But her halcyon days are cut short by the Great War, coastal storms, and unexpected challenges to Mayfield. As Eliza battles personal pains and the ravages of family turmoil over the years, her love and devotion for the natural world puts her on a collision course with the patriarchal traditions of a bygone era.
1988: At 88, Eliza is the scion of the Rivers/DeLancey family. She’s fought a lifetime to save her beloved Mayfield and is too independent and committed to quietly retire and leave the fate of the estate to her greedy son. She must make decisions that will assure the future of the land and her family—or watch them both be split apart.
Set against the evocative landscape of the twentieth-century low country, Where the Rivers Merge is a dramatic and sweeping multigenerational family story of unyielding love, lessons learned, profound sacrifices, and the indomitable spirit of a woman determined to persevere in the face of change in order to protect her family legacy and the land she loves.
My Thoughts: I devoured this book in less than 24
hours. I could not put it down and was
so invested in Eliza’s life and her sharing it.
The story just flowed so easily that I could feel the history and the
living of the story. It was not just words in a book, it was a
place, a feeling, a life being shared. I cannot wait for more!
Eliza has lived her best life. She has worked hard, grown her family’s
business, kept the estate in good shape.
At 88 years old, she has realized that she wants to share her family
history. I love that in returning to her
childhood home, Mayfield, she can tell her story through a mural on a
wall. The pictures start the story and
she continues that story with her words.
She has lived through two world wars, segregation, the depression, and
so much more. This book is truly a
must-read!
Thank you William Morrow Books for a copy of the book in
exchange for my honest review.
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Mary Alice has earned numerous accolades and awards
including induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame;
the Southwest Florida Author of Distinction Award; South Carolina Award for
Literary Excellence; RT Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Book
Award for Green Fiction, and the prestigious Southern Book Prize for Fiction.
Her bestselling novel The Beach House is a Hallmark Hall of
Fame movie. Monroe is the co-creator of the weekly web show and podcast Friends
and Fiction.
Mary Alice Monroe has championed the fragility of the
earth’s wild habitat. The coastal southern landscape in particular has become a
strong and important focus of many of her novels. For her novels Monroe
immerses herself in academic research, works with wildlife experts, and does
hands-on volunteering with animals. She then uses the knowledge and
experiences to craft captivating stories that identify important parallels
between nature and human nature. Sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, monarch
butterflies, shorebirds are among the species she has worked with and woven
into her novels.
Monroe is an active conservationist and serves on the South
Carolina Aquarium Board Emeritus, The Leatherback Trust, The Pat Conroy
Literary Center Honorary Board, and Casting Carolinas Advisory Board. She is
especially proud to be a twenty year plus state-certified volunteer with the
Island Turtle Team.
Mary Alice has a home in South Carolina and North Carolina.
When not writing a novel, she is with her family or busy working with wildlife
somewhere in the world.
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