The Summer Girls

by Mary Alice Monroe

  ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

  1. In The Summer Girls, Carson befriends Blake, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, which has ocean, weather, and fishery branches in every state. Research the NOAA, and explore their Volunteer website, http://www.volunteer.noaa.gov/, and also see Mary Alice Monroe’s Conservation page, http://www.maryalicemonroe.com/site/epage/116387_67.htm. With your book club, plan a group outing or fund-raiser to support the NOAA or another local wildlife preservation organization.

  2. “I would like each of you to list the item that you most want to have. The one item you are desperate for, more than any of the others. I want to be sure you each take something from the house that you love”. Mamaw lures her girls to stay for the summer with keepsakes from her home. Monroe reveals through flashbacks why Carson selected her treasure—the portrait—and how monetary value played no part in her decision. Every family has their unique “treasures.” Discuss with your book club the family heirloom that means the most to you. Suggest that each member bring in a picture of her “treasure” to share and tell why that item has value. What would you like to leave to future generations, and what treasured mementos are most precious to you?

  3. Evoke the book’s setting by channeling Lucille’s home-style Southern cooking. Plan to host your book club as a potluck, with each member cooking one of Lucille’s signature dishes, like mashed potatoes, lemon bars, hush puppies, gumbo, and sweet tea. Make copies of each recipe for all of your book club members to take home. You could even bind them together to create your own The Summer Girls cookbook!

  PHOTOGRAPH BY BARBARA J. BERGWERF

  MARY ALICE MONROE is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of many highly acclaimed novels. She is an active conservationist living in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Visit her at www.maryalicemonroe.com.

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  ALSO BY MARY ALICE MONROE

  Beach House Memories

  The Butterfly’s Daughter

  Last Light over Carolina

  Time Is a River

  We hope you enjoyed reading this Gallery Books eBook.

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  Gallery Books

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 by Mary Alice Monroe, Ltd.

  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 trade paperback edition June 2013

  GALLERY BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Designed by Jaime Putorti

  Cover design by Susan Zucker

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Monroe, Mary Alice.

  The summer girls / by Mary Alice Monroe — First Gallery Books trade paperback edition.

  pages cm

  1. Women—South Carolina—Fiction. 2. Sullivan’s Island (S.C.). 3. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

  PS3563.O529S86 2013

  813'.54—dc23

  2013005657

  ISBN 978-1-4767-0900-0

  ISBN 978-1-4767-0903-1 (ebook)

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Acknowledgments

  Dolphin Facts

  Readers Group Guide

  About Mary Alice Monroe