Where the Rivers Merge

Monroe serves up a pleasing paean to rural life in South Carolina in the first of two planned novels about the history of a white family’s plantation. In 1988, Eliza Rivers Chalmers DeLancey, 88, intends to put the remaining thousand acres surrounding Mayfield, her ancestral home, into a conservation easement to protect its legacy. Her son, however, wants to develop the property. To help ensure Mayfield’s future, Eliza shares the property’s history with her 18-year-old granddaughter, Savannah, and her grand-niece, Norah, who is also her childhood friend Covey’s granddaughter, hoping the younger generation will carry out her wishes. Eliza begins the story in 1908 when she loved hanging around the stables where her father started breeding Marsh Tackys, a hardy horse native to South Carolina. Her tomboy nature upset her mother, as did her friendship with Covey, a Black girl who lived with her father on the property. In telling her story, Eliza endears herself to the two younger women and to the reader by sharing her indomitable spirit along with tidbits about native insects, animals, and landmarks. The author’s fans will find much to admire. (May)