Joan Medlicott

 

(Scroll down for interview.)

 

The three Ladies of Covington meet in a sterile retirement home where they’re all in the care of landlady Olive Pruitt, who provides them with room and board, but not much else. When one of the women inherits a farm in North Carolina, the ladies brave a road trip to see it. Once in Covington, they decide – much to the chagrin of their children and Mrs. Pruitt – to leave the boarding house and live there. Each book details their ups, downs, adventures, romances – and of course their enduring (although often tested) friendship. Joan Medlicott is a great storyteller with the ability to create characters and situations many older women can identify with – but I believe readers of all ages would enjoy the stories.

 

Books:

 

Ladies of Covington Books

  • (2007) An Unexpected Family (Novella) See Review
  • (2006) Two Days after the Wedding See Review
  • (2005) A Covington Christmas (Novella)
  • (2004) At Home in Covington
  • (2003) The Spirit of Covington
  • (2002) From the Heart of Covington
  • (2001) The Gardens of Covington
  • (2000) The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love

Non-Series Fiction

  • (2007) Come Walk with Me See Review
  • (2005) The Three Mrs. Parkers
  • (1996) Belonging: A Caribbean Love Story

Non-Fiction

  • (2000) Celibate Wives: Breaking the Silence (co-author)
  • (1997) Virgin Islands Tales of Olden Days
  • (1995) Virgin Islands Tales of Ghosts, Hauntings, and Jumbees

Profile:

 

I was born on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, back when it was truly paradise. I married at eighteen and had three children. When I was 29, I started back to college and as we moved a great deal, it took me about ten years to finish a BA in history. Later, I went on to get a masters in counseling. Because of my husband's work I have lived in Chicago; New York; Miami and Ocala FL; Lausanne, Switzerland; and Nürenburg, Germany.

 

In 1964 we returned to live in St. Thomas and I began a career in horticulture as director of the division of beautification for the Virgin Islands government. I am a self-starter and never afraid to tackle something I know nothing about, if I have a passion for the topic. That's how it was with horticulture. I took correspondence courses from the University of Guelph in Canada. I visited the park services of Miami and Miami Beach and learned from them. I read and became proficient in tropical horticulture. I became, to all intents and purposes, a tropical horticulturist. I was divorced and remarried in 1967.

 

In 1973, we moved to Boca Raton, Fl. where I got my masters degree in counseling. Following that I worked as a volunteer coordinator at a senior center and spent the next nine years developing (people) programs: friendly visitors for homebound elderly, in-service training for staff and a lifetime learning program called Horizons Unlimited.

 

It had never occurred to me to write professionally. All my writing had been for organizations. Then, in 1989, a friend and I decided that there was a problem out there in America — many women were living in sexless marriages. We decided to write a self-help book on the subject. We had no clue how to begin, but fools rush in where... you know what. We did just that, learning as we went along. In 1992 Celibate Wives: Breaking the Silence was published. It was not marketed by its publisher and went nowhere. But, by then, I’d been bitten by the writer’s bug.

 

I knew nothing about novel writing. In fact, my then agent said that non-fiction writers could not switch to novels. I thought, you wait and see. I was certain that I could learn. I took classes, hired an editor, read copiously and kept on going. It never bothered me to be the least knowledgeable writer in a writers group, or to take criticism. I discovered there was a craft to be mastered, and I set out to do that through writers’ magazines, workshops, classes, writing groups.

 

The idea for Ladies came to me in the bathtub and persisted until I sat at the computer to put down my thoughts. I never stopped. When I did not know what came next, I soaked in the tub and the next chapter or twist of plot would come to me. I am grateful to the universe for its guidance.

 

My life is full and active. Besides my writing, I volunteer at a local library sorting, pricing and selling the used books at our annual used book sale. I am on the library board and for the last two years have been co-manager of the 1st and 2nd annual Western North Carolina Book Fair.

 

I live in the beautiful countryside a half-hour from Asheville, NC. Sometimes I wish I lived closer to town, yet the beauty of my surroundings pleases me every day. My husband, at 75, never stops fixing or building something, or helping a neighbor fix or build something. Life is good, and I am grateful.

 

Photo and profile from author’s web-site. Reprinted with permission.

 

Author Website: www.joanmedlicott.com 

 

Author Interview:

(January 2006)

 

Cozy Library: The Ladies move to Covington took a leap of faith for them, just as your moving into a fiction-writing career in late middle age did for you. Do you see any other parallels between their leap and yours?

 

Joan Medlicott: Yes, I do. At the same time as I began my writing career, we moved from Florida to North Carolina. The ladies and I share a belief that we can change our lives, that change is possible, that we can recreate and refashion our lives. We are excited about life.

 

CL: It seems that loneliness was a big part of the ladies’ lives before Covington, Do you believe loneliness is a common problem for people, men and women of all ages?

 

JM: I cannot speak for men, but I do speak to a great many women and hear from a great many women who read my books, and loneliness is rampart in our society. I believe that mobility, the uprooting of families, the focus on the nuclear family without the support system of good friend s and family that were common, when my generation was raising children, led to great loneliness and unhappiness. This was especially so for the women and children. I know whereof I speak, for in my first eight years of marriage I moved eight times, for my first husband’s career. We live in North Carolina today, primarily because several of our children live within two to four hours of us, and our daughter lives close by. My husband and I consider this a blessing in our lives. Also, I belong to a small, intimate, red hat chapter and to a writers group, and these groups have led to close friendships

 

CL: What do you think are the secrets to happy/fulfilled aging?

 

JM: A sense of community, of belonging, involvement with something or/ and people who have meaning in your life. Belonging to a church or synagogue that you enjoy can fill many of your needs for friends, activities, and meaning, as will volunteer work, which you enjoy. For many years, I volunteered at the Weaverville Library and helped to organize two successful book fairs. And of course, among the things needed for a happy/fulfilled old age are adequate finances to meet your needs.

 

CL: Who are your favorite authors?

 

Authors who write about women and the issues in women’s lives, like Rosemund Pilcher, author of The Shell Seekers, and Nancy Thayer, who wrote Three Women at the Waters Edge and Belonging, and now, the Hot Flash Club Series. I enjoy the work of Jude Devereau and Maeve Binchy as well. They tell good stories. These days with all the traveling I do, I listen to audio books, including light mysteries like those of Sue Grafton, and non-fiction, mainly the works of Simon Winchester, who wrote Krakatoa, The Map that Changed the World, and A Crack in the Edge of the World. I also enjoy reading about ancient civilizations, like Egypt and Mesopotamia.

 

CL: What authors most influenced you in your writing?

 JM: Rosamund Pilcher, for her flow of language, detail, and use of imagery.

 

CL: What are you reading now?

 

JM: Simon Winchester’s a Crack in the Edge of the World, which brings to life the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.