At Home on St. Simons

by Eugenia Price

The millions who have read Eugenia Price's novels know that central to each of her stories is a strong, deeply rooted sense of place, and readers quickly fall in love with Price 's settings. For thirty years, faithful readers have followed Price to the vivid worlds of her Georgia trilogy, her Florida trilogy, her Savannah quartet, and her many other novels. Her stories of local people and the homes where their stories unfold easily become familiar, loved places. "That a house, a locale, is central to all my novels, makes good sense," Ms. Price believes. "I am and have always been almost overly sensitive to the house, the place in which I live. Finding St. Simons Island changed my very life-its tempo, its basic simple quality, even my own capacity for lasting relationships. Here, Eugenia shares with her worldwide reading public some of what life was like during the first years in which she and her best friend and fellow writer, Joyce Blackburn, were becoming Islanders. "These short pieces," she says, "include my observations day by day of what it was like at last to be at home on St. Simons. We were learning how to be neighbors, after so many years of complex life in the huge northern city of Chicago; learning how to care deeply for people with whom, at first glace, we had little in common. We were understanding what it really meant to come home." Eugenia Price, called by many St. Simons' own "beloved invader," here shows readers those early years as they were being lived. Her cherished ST. SIMONS MEMOIR was written from memory and notes in old desk calendars, but AT HOME ON ST. SIMONS illuminates some of the experiences which most shaped and changed Eugenia-written as they occured. In the opening chapter, Ms. Price attempts to explain-almost as though to herself-why, in the face of such drastic change on the small, once provincial island on the Georgia coast, she is still at home on St. Simons. Her emotional connection to the island and her sense of place absorb local St. Simons readers as well as those who have never seen the island firsthand. Millions have read Eugenia Price's books, which have been translated into more that fifteen languages. The formative, poignant moments related in AT HOME ON ST. SIMONS bring a universal appeal to this singular volume that retraces the beginning of Price's real-life love for St. Simons Island.

Genres: Nonfiction

90 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1981

About the author

Eugenia Price was born in Charleston, WV, June 22, 1916, to Walter (a dentist) and Anna Price. At the age of ten, she decided she wanted to be a writer and entered a poem in her school's literary magazine. She was raised as a member of the Methodist Church, but had left the church behind by the time she graduated from high school, at the age of 15, in 1932. She decided to leave writing behind to follow in her father's footsteps and pursue a career in dentistry. She attended Ohio University for three years, declaring herself an atheist during this time. In 1935, she became a student at Northwestern Dental School, the only woman admitted that year. She studied dentistry for two years, but writing continued to draw her. In 1939, she was hired to work on the NBC radio serial In Care of Aggie Horn. She continued as one of the writers for the show until 1942. She left NBC, going to work for the Proctor and Gamble show Joyce Jordan, M.D. from 1944-1946. In 1945 she founded her own television and radio production company, Eugenia Price Productions, developing other serials for Proctor and Gamble.

In 1949 Eugenia Price underwent a profound life change, giving up her college atheism to embrace Christianity. She considered a career change, but accepted a position with WGN Radio as writer, producer, and director for Unshackled, another radio serial. The popularity of the show led her to a lecturing career throughout the United States and Canada for several years.

Price began yet another career in the early 1950s when she was approached by one of the owners of Zondervan publishing. The 1953 publication of Discoveries Made from Living My New Life, a chronicle of her newfound faith and the experiences that led her to it, launched Eugenia Price into a new career as an inspirational writer. Other inspirational books followed, addresses issues of importance to women and children and other self-help concerns and urging readers away from advances in psychology and analysis and toward a life based on Biblical tenants. Many of her inspirational books are still in print, a testimony to the comfort and empathy many readers found in her works.

Eugenia Price gained a much wider audience though when she began publishing historical romances set in the American South. These novels were praised as "compelling sagas that blend personal stories of love and tragedy. . . with the dramatic events of a region's history." Her first historical romance, The Beloved Invader, was inspired her visit to Saint Simons Island, Georgia and based on one of the island's nineteenth-century inhabitants. The Beloved Invader was published in 1965 and followed by two other romances, New Moon Rising (1969) and Lighthouse (1971), to form the St. Simons Trilogy.

Her historical romances made Price a frequent member of the best-seller lists and brought her millions of readers. Although she continued to write and to publish inspirational works, it was her romances that brought her the greatest attention.

Eugenia Price died May 28, 1996, in Brunswick, Georgia of congestive heart failure and is buried in the Christ Church cemetery, Frederica, GA. Many of her books remain in print and have translated into 17 languages, charming readers of all ages and nationalities. Her manuscripts are housed at Boston University.

Reviews

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister and I visited St. Simons Island after reading the Eugenia Price books based on the island. We even went to Easter Service in the little church. A great book and wonderful place.

[Graceann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugenia Price shares several essays on what life is like on St. Simons Island, and how it has changed since she moved there in 1965. A slim but satisfying volume.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read this author's life story, so was interested in these columns written about her life after she moved from Chicago to this quaint island off George coast.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant listening, and of particular interest as I have read the author's novels in the past. I have also visited St. Simon's Island now and then, so could envision the places she mentions. Ironic that her writing about this quiet, charming place actually brought more tourists!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author describes St Simon's and why she fell in love with the island. A very good read makes me want to visit St Simon's cause I have never been their!!!!!