IOP author uses nature as backdrop for her character's journey to self

10th novel casts fly-fishing in a supporting role

Alan Hawes
The Post and Courier

Author Mary Alice Monroe, shown at her home on the Isle of Palms, is publishing her 10th book, 'Time is a River,' this summer.

Drawn to the natural world and its revelations, many a writer learns to dance with the environment. But they must remember not to lead.

After a spate of books in step with nature, Mary Alice Monroe knows when to let the wild tell its own story, and how to employ ecological wonders for their metaphorical, as well as literal value. It is, after all, not raptors or turtles or fish, however fascinating, that are the fulcrum of her fiction, but people.

"Going to nature, especially when you see the phenomenon of vistas and view their great expanse — at the ocean, on a mountainside or at the Grand Canyon — you grow calm," says the Isle of Palms author, whose 10th novel, "Time is a River" (Pocket Books), is set against the backdrop of fly-fishing. "What grows insignificant is all the troubles you brought with you that loomed so large."

When Monroe took to a mountain river to cast her first fly, she "got it" from the start: that feeling of connection with nature where catching fish is almost, if not entirely, beside the point.

"Thoreau said many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it's not fish they're after. I wanted to bring people to the world of fly-fishing without wholly immersing them in it, because the book is about the characters of Mia Landa and Kate Watkins."

As we meet her, Landa is enduring the process of recovery from breast cancer (and the torment of her husband's infidelity) in a mountain cabin near Asheville, N.C. There she unearths a remarkable journal kept by Watkins, a noted fly fisher of the 1920s. Landa is more than simply inspired by what she reads. She finds herself idolizing the writer and her strengths. The journal works its magic, enticing Landa from her cocoon to reconnect with the world. And as she learns to fish, she also nets secrets that loop across generations.

"I worked really hard to show an experience of survival," Monroe says. "There are so many metaphors in this story for that. One is physical survival, going up to the mountains, sick or not sick, knowing what to do when the power goes out or facing a wild animal or identifying the plants and birds and trees that are our companions. That's compounded in the story by surviving breast cancer. Then there is emotional survival, which is a lot of what those who survive breast cancer are about.

"We all survive some kind of trauma. But what is it that takes us beyond just surviving to living? It's a transforming experience, and that's a heroic journey that doesn't just happen to characters in novels."

Before being diagnosed with cancer, Landa was a creature of one dimension: a traditional young married professional in Charleston whose identity largely was defined by how she looked and who she knew. Arriving at the cabin, she feels betrayed by her body, her husband and her life, until fishing helps her learn to inhabit the moment.

"She has to rediscover who she is. It isn't just about surviving breast cancer, but of giving away too much of one's self."

Monroe discovered that her favorite character was Watkins, though the author did not choose to use hers as the primary voice.

"She is the epitome of someone who has balanced the archetypal male and female in herself. Mia is the more 'feminine' in the beginning, but she discovers her male strength. We learn about Kate through her journals and anecdotal stories, letters and articles she wrote. As Mia gains strength and rises, the flaws and weaknesses of Kate become apparent and they almost trade places. By the end of the story, Mia saves Kate and her reputation. And both achieve balance."

The book also connects to a real-world association of breast cancer survivors called Casting for Recovery, an Asheville-based program Monroe encountered as a new member of the Reel Women of Charleston Anglers.

"They do a fundraiser every year. I became involved, then volunteered for a Casting for Recovery retreat. I met many survivors and they inspired me not only with their words, but the expressions on their faces when they caught fish. They inspired much of Mia's transformation in the book, which is the closest thing to a mystery I've written. But it's also got a fairy-tale structure: a victimized woman going up to a mountain cabin in the woods where she meets the old crone (wise woman) and a considerate lover. She has to go through trials to gain vital knowledge, then must go home and take what she has learned with her."

A Book Sense July Pick, "Time is a River" proved a special book for Monroe, who learned something of living in the now herself.

"That is what happens when you are at, and in, the river. You notice the details. There is a lot more introspection in these pages. And I think Mia is every woman, myself included: not her history but her journey."

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.