Mary Monroe is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five novels and six novellas. She is a three-time AALBC bestseller and winner of the AAMBC Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award, the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the J. California Cooper Memorial Award. The daughter of Alabama sharecroppers, she taught herself how to write before going on to become the first and only member of her family to finish high school. She lives in Oakland, California, and loves to hear from her readers via e-mail at Authorauthor5409@aol.com. Visit Mary's website at MaryMonroe.org.
Praise for Mary Monroe's Mama Ruby Trilogy: Engaging ...the dialogue and setting are reminiscent of Zora Neale Hurston, but the story has a bizarre, violent edge ... la Stephen King. Fantastic and exaggerated, the novel may seem dated in its descriptions of race and sex, but it is a candid portrayal of the cold-blooded yet fascinating Mama Ruby. --Publishers Weekly on The Upper Room Monroe keeps the suspense high, and readers will draw a bated breath with the turn of each page. --Booklist on Mama Ruby A spicy mixture of family scandal, mother-daughter betrayal, and good-for-nothing men. --Publishers Weekly on Lost Daughters Monroe is a masterful storyteller. --Philadelphia Inquirer Mary Monroe's prequel to The Upper Room reintroduces readers to Mama Ruby, a fierce and indomitable woman... Though readers new to the series will have to accept the dialect, ever-present threat of violence, and explicit sex scenes, they'll appreciate the compelling period and the unapologetic characters. Familiarity with The Upper Room smooths the way. --Publishers Weekly on Mama Ruby