MEDLICOTT, Joan 1932(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1932, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; married a U.S. military serviceman, c. 1950 (divorced); married second husband (an engineer) 1967; children: (first marriage) Damon, David, Paula. Education: Earned B.A., M.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 355, Barnardsville, NC 28709. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Novelist. U.S. Virgin Islands Government, director, Division of Beautification for the Virgin Islands, 1964—; Mae Volen Senior Center, Boca Raton, FL, volunteer coordinator and program developer.

WRITINGS:

(With Diana Waltz) Celibate Wives: Breaking the Silence (nonfiction), Lowell House (Lincolnwood, IL), 1992.

fiction; "covington" series

The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

The Gardens of Covington, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

From the Heart of Covington, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

The Spirit of Covington, Pocket (New York, NY), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Book five of the "Covington" series.

SIDELIGHTS: Joan Medlicott told Pam Kingsbury in an interview for Southern Scribe, "Writing is my third and well loved career. It came as a gift from God and I am forever grateful." Medlicott, originally of the U.S. Virgin Islands, married at age eighteen and, during her first husband's career in the U.S. Army, lived in Chicago, New York, Miami and Ocala, Florida, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Nurenburg, Germany. Upon returning to St. Thomas, she developed a passion for horticulture. A self-acknowledged self-starter, she took correspondence courses from the University of Guelph in Canada, visited the Miami and Miami Beach park services, read prolifically on the subject, and ultimately directed the Virgin Islands division of Beautification in a battle to save land from development.

After moving to Boca Raton, Florida, where she lived for fifteen years and where she obtained her master's degree in counseling, Medlicott invested nine years developing and coordinating programs at a senior center upon discovering counseling was no suitable match for her goal-and task-oriented personality. "The open endedness of counseling drove me nuts," she commented on her Web site. Although having no inclination for or knowledge of writing, in 1989 she and a friend decided to write a self-help book for women living in sexless marriages. On her Web site, Medlicott explained that, while little came of the book, the process gave her the writing bug. "I loved the act of writing, and have loved it ever since."

As with her horticulture career, writing became a passion. Self-admittedly, she knew nothing of the process, so she set out to learn. Having no interest in writing nonfiction, she focused on fiction, even although her agent told her nonfiction writers could not switch to novels. "I thought, you wait and see," she wrote on her Web site. She attended writing workshops, took classes, hired an editor for a while, read prolifically, and just kept trying. On her Web site, she explained: "The idea for [Covington] Ladies came to me in the bathtub and persisted until I sat at the computer to put down the 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. This is still happening and I am grateful to the universe for its help." By mid-2002, Medlicott had three highly successful "Covington" books to her credit, a fourth slated for a 2003 release, and a fifth well underway. "When others are retiring and wondering what to do next, I am writing the next chapter the next book."

The "Covington" series began with The Covington Ladies Send Their Love, in which three extremely different widows in their sixties—Amelia, Hannah, and Grace—form a strong friendship while living a dreary and unhappy existence in a Pennsylvania retirement boarding house. Amelia unexpectedly inherits a rundown old farmhouse in a tiny mountain community in North Carolina. Ignoring the pleadings of their respective children, and in spite of having been dominated by their husbands to the point of not knowing their capabilities, the three leave the boarding home for the farm, embarking on an adventure of self-discovery, independence, and pursuit of dreams. Amelia develops her long-suppressed talent for photography, exhibiting in New York City by the third novel. Grace opens herself to love, and she and her beau, Bob, open a tearoom. Hannah faces surgery she has been avoiding for years, opens a greenhouse, and leads the trio and their friends in a fight against a developer who would upgrade their community.

Reviewing The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love for Kirkus Reviews, a critic called the novel "a heartening reminder that life in the later years may be slower and less sure but can still surprise and delight." Writing for Publishers Weekly, a reviewer of From the Heart of Covington commented: "Just as the youthful concerns of series like 'Sweet Valley High' are targeted toward a niche of readers of a certain juvenile age, the geriatric concerns of the ladies of Covington . . . determine the audience here a well." A Kirkus reviewer remarked that "When Grace throws a big party for all of Cove Road, she sees how young she and her two friends now look: 'No one becomes old until regret takes the place of dreams.'"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, February 15, 2000, George Needham, review of The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love, p. 1083; April 15, 2001, Bonnie Johnston, review of The Gardens of Covington, p. 1536.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2000, review of TheLadies of Covington Send Their Love, p. 141; March 15, 2001, review of The Gardens of Covington, p. 356; March 1, 2002, review of From the Heart of Covington, p. 289.

Library Journal, March 1, 2000, Carol J. Bissett, review of The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love, p. 125; March 15, 2001, Carol J. Bissett, review of The Gardens of Covington, p. 106.

Publishers Weekly, February 7, 2000, review of TheLadies of Covington Send Their Love, p. 59; April 30, 2001, review of The Gardens of Covington, p. 58; May 6, 2002, review of From the Heart of Covington, p. 38.

online

Joan Medlicott Home Page,http://joanmedlicott.com (June 5, 2002).

Newhouse News Service,http://www.newhouse.com/ (September 30, 2002) Dru Sefton, "Celibacy Is Slowly Gaining Attention from Sex Researchers."

Southern Scribe Web site,http://www.southernscribe.com/ (September 30, 2002), Pam Kingsbury, "Women of a Certain Age Rejoice: An Interview with Joan Medlicott."*