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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT
Prologue is WHQR's monthly book discussion, hosted by Ben Steelman of the Star News. Takes place on the second Monday of the month, at 7pm. Prologue is currently hosted via Zoom Webinar.

Prologue: "Lumina" by Mary Flinn, July 8th

http://theonenovel.com/lumina/

PROLOGUE STARTS AT NOON

Monday, July 8th

The MC Erny Gallery

 

On Monday, July 8th, at NOON in the MC Erny Gallery, guest host Barbara Bush of WHQR will sit down with author Mary Flinn to discuss his latest book, "Lumina."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of North Carolina, award-winning author Mary Flinn long ago fell in love with her state’s mountains and its coast, creating the backdrops for her series of novels, The OneSecond Time’s a CharmThree Gifts, and A Forever Man. With degrees from both the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and East Carolina University, Flinn retired in 2013 from her first career as a speech pathologist in the N.C. public schools. Writing novels was always a dream for Flinn, who began crafting the pages of The One when her younger daughter left for college at Appalachian State University in 2009. The characters in this book have continued to call to her, wanting more of their stories told, which bred the next three books in the series. 

ABOUT THE BOOK: 
 
In the summer of 1928, Lumina, known as the “Palace of Light,” is only reachable from Wilmington, North Carolina by trolley car or boat, where it occupies the entire southern tip of Wrightsville Beach. The grandest beach pavilion on the East Coast creates the backdrop for this fictional tale of young people from all walks of life falling in love—not only with each other but with Lumina itself, where everything is magic from eight until midnight on Saturday nights.
LUMINA is a story about change. Change in attitudes in a decadent time—of the flappers, the new jazz, National Prohibition, the invisible black population, and modern conveniences—but it’s also a love story. Lit by over 6,000 lights, Lumina creates a magical backdrop for romance. The story is told in alternating letters from twenty-year-old Kip Meeks and from diary entries of his naïve sister, seventeen-year- old Sylvie, who both unexpectedly meet and fall in love with people at Lumina whom they wouldn’t otherwise encounter. For Kip, it’s Catherine Carmichael, an heiress with a secret, and for young Sylvie, it’s Catherine’s older brother, the mysterious Clifton. Kip and Sylvie quickly learn that people aren’t always who they appear to be.

Fast forward ninety years to summer 2018. While going through her late mother Sylvie’s possessions, Anne Borden Montgomery (known from the pages of Flinn’s A Girl Like That) discovers an unpublished manuscript, a novel, compiled from her mother’s diary and her uncle’s letters. AB shares the story on her own front porch with her eager friends, Mr. May, Elle, and Nate, who take turns reading the story aloud, finding interesting parallels in their own lives while becoming acquainted with “new” old friends.

Mary Bradley moved to Wilmington from Los Angeles, CA in May 2007 with her husband Frank and twin baby daughters, Maggie and Kate. In California, Mary had been Drive Director and the producer of Elvis Mitchell's nationally syndicated public radio interview program "The Treatment" for public radio station KCRW for ten years. Mary was raised in Rhode Island and graduated from Boston University. Mary recently served as President of the Board of Directors of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Cape Fear Chapter.