TORN has won an award!

I'm honored to announce that TORN has won a Reader Views Reviewers' Choice award.

Lily Andrews' five-star review for Reader Views is featured below. I am grateful for the exposure and recognition that the Reader Views Literary Awards program offers to indie authors, so please take a moment to read what they thought of TORN. This is an important book for our time and I would love for you to share this story with your book-loving friends to get the word out about the abortion laws in our country and how they need to be changed for the health and safety of the women in all 50 states. It was a nice surprise to learn that although it is fiction, TORN became historical fiction by the time I had finished writing it, because one law in Texas was amended to save lives. 

Reader Views
 11900 Jollyville Rd. #201673  Austin  TX  78759

www.readerviews.com

Torn

Mary Flinn

Independently Published (2024)

ISBN: 978-0997769616

Reviewed by Lily Andrews for Reader Views (05/2025)

5* - A Text that Depicts the Fight for Choice and Survival

Torn by Mary Flinn is a moving, timely, emotional story that centers on one of modern-day

America's popular and often divisive topics—reproductive rights. At the center of it is Merilee

Stillwater, a young Native American woman whose life is suddenly turned upside down when

she discovers she’s pregnant. Her world is already rife with tough circumstances — she’s a foster

child, she’s battling a serious pregnancy illness called hyperemesis gravidarum, and on top of it

all, she’s stuck in Texas, a state with some of the harshest abortion laws in the country.

Right from the very first pages, readers will feel her fear, heartbreak, and turmoil, as well as a

deeply ingrained, fierce determination to take back control of her life. Then there’s Theo

Martinez, a former pro baseball player still grieving the loss of his wife, Liv, whose pregnancy

ended tragically. He meets Merilee at the ideal moment and, without hesitation, starts helping her

to leave Texas for North Carolina, where she can freely get an abortion. Their journey is filled

with tangible tension as well as a beckoning hope amidst a growing bond that feels both fragile

and strong at the same time. The journey also turns painful at times, and readers will keep hoping

as they turn the pages for a happy ending.

Flinn writes in a way that is authentic, honest, and meaningful without being preachy or telling

readers what to think. She invites them to walk alongside the characters, experience their pain,

and witness their struggles with the often-unexpected difficulties they experience. She

remarkably explores important topics like racism, class, healthcare, and personal freedom, all

through the lens of Merilee’s story, while handling her Native American heritage with such

respect and care, showing her identity without falling into stereotypes. The secondary characters

— from Merilee’s well-intentioned but complicated foster parents to her once-supportive

boyfriend Micah and her caring tutor Dani — bring extra heart and depth to the story. You’ll feel

like you know them all by the end, and their choices reflect the larger, messy world we live in.

The many lessons this book imparts, such as the fact that life may become chaotic and require us

to make difficult decisions, will be appreciated by readers. Readers will also adore Flinn’s

writing style, which is incredibly smooth, emotional, and gripping. The way the book is

structured, it seamlessly transitions between the perspectives of the two main protagonists,

allowing the reader to enter their hearts and minds and experience their emotions up close.

Character development is particularly strong; you witness the duo gradually come to terms with

their situations and transform into individuals who find their voices and bravely fight for their

futures.

Mary Flinn's novel Torn is the type that stays with you long after you have turned the last page.

It is about real people, genuine challenges, and the strength of standing up for yourself when life

seems completely overwhelming. This story will make you think about what it means to be

brave, to care about others, and to fight for what’s right, even when the world feels unfair. What

really sets it apart is how much heart it has; you connect with the characters on a deep level, and

by the end, you will feel as if you have gone on this trip with them. If you’re looking for a book

that’s emotional, gripping, and seriously thought-provoking, Torn is one you won’t want to miss.

- 2 -

Mary Flinn's eleventh novel, TORN has been released!

TORN is available for purchase on Amazon, Kindle and from Mary Flinn's website at TheOneNovel.com!

If the overturning of Roe v Wade has left an impression on you, then TORN may be your next go-to contemporary novel. Whether your book club is looking for a thought-provoking communal read, or you want to explore different views on a woman's right to choose, TORN may satisfy both needs.

"Two strangers embark on a secret road trip- a pregnant girl from Texas with no options and a grieving husband with an agenda, his GPS set for North Carolina. Will their journey lead to everything they've both prayed for?"

Summary:

Being a girl of limited means on the cusp of adulthood is never easy. It's even harder when you're lef without a choice to navigate the course of your own life.

Orphaned at fifteen, now almost-eighteen Merilee Stillwater finds herself pregnant and so frighteningly ill that she cannot attend school. Worse, she lives in a state where a woman's right to choose is not an option. Hopeless and bound to the morals of her foster parents, Merilee is given a miracle--a choice. A ride out of Texas will end her misery and change her destiny if she can find the courage to risk it. TORN is the riveting tale of one girl's struggle to work through what it means to become an adult and take charge of her life.

Allegiance is now available on Audible!

Good news! Allegiance is now available on Audible! Narrated by Susan Russell, former Penn State University laureate and Broadway star of Phantom of the Opera, I am sure you will experience the new dimension she brings to Keri Slater's angsty story. If you are interested in getting a FREE download from the Audible site, contact me at MaryFlinnBooks@gmail.com. Susan and I would love to have your honest reviews. I hope you enjoy listening to our work as much as we did writing it and producing it!

Musical References for Playing by Heart

 

Playing by Heart is a musical immersion! When researching the songs and instrumental pieces to include in Sylvie and her friends' journey through Oberlin College's Conservatory of Music, I listened to many of the selections as played on YouTube for inspiration and how to write about them, the emotions stirred within the performances, and the technical aspects of all the music you will read about in the book. I urge you to listen along as you read and enjoy the performances as I did while researching these remarkable musical pieces. Here is the curated list for your enjoyment!

YouTube Videos with musical selections from Playing by Heart

 

Mozart’s "Queen of the Night" aria from The Magic Flute performed by Sabine Devielhe

https://youtu.be/tZT4DoTx0fU

 

Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Scheherazade" violin solo performed by Robert Kwiatkowski

https://youtu.be/6kaQNPPuizs

 

Rachmaninov’s "Etudes Tableaux Opus 39, number 1 in C minor" performed by Yuja Wang

https://youtu.be/mAEM5q5YFtg

 

George Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic 1976

https://youtu.be/cH2PH0auTUU

 

Debussy’s "Beau Soir" performed by Natalie Perez

https://youtu.be/whmb_9wLX7Q

 

George Gershwin’s "Someone to Watch Over Me" performed by Jean Louisa Kelly in Mr. Holland’s Opus

https://youtu.be/3A84-s9RyNw

 

 

 

 

 

Book Launch Event for Playing by Heart

   MEET THE AUTHOR!

Book talk and reading at 4:15 followed by book signing

Sunday, October 2, 2022

Porters Neck Country Club Ballroom

8403 Vintage Club Drive

Wilmington, NC 28411

    ALL ARE WELCOME!

RSVP with number in your party to mflinn56@gmail.com by September 26.

 

To learn more about Mary Flinn and her books, please visit TheOneNovel.com. Autographed copies are available from her website at Buy the Book. 

Playing by Heart to be released October 2022

The new book is coming! I'm so excited to announce my tenth book, Playing by Heart, is set to release in October 2022! It is the sequel to LUMINA. Follow the blog or watch for updates on social media for book launch date and signings.

Here is the summary:

Returning to the characters readers grew to love in LUMINA, author Mary Flinn continues their parallel stories in Playing by Heart. The current-day Wilmington characters Anne Borden Montgomery and Mr. May are back to attic diving during the early stay-at-home days of the COVID-19 pandemic. After discovering more of AB’s mother Sylvie’s diaries, the two are eager to share these new treasures with their younger neighbors, Nate and Elle, on the front porch where they can sit outside, read to each other, and maintain social distancing. The reading is a nice break for Nate, who is struggling to work effectively from home, and Elle, determined to keep her bakery from falling victim to COVID.

Paired with their story is Sylvie Meeks’ journey to the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College in 1928. As a first-year performance student, Sylvie realizes she is a fish out of water with her ungainly Southern accent and unassuming ways. Pining for the family and unfinished business she’s left behind, Sylvie is looking for just one friend. She finds four other misfits: Dot an overconfident soprano from Cincinnati; Bart, a fellow pianist from Chicago, vying for faculty favor; Hersch, a Jewish violinist from New York City; and Mina, a gifted singer and descendant of slaves. Sylvie narrates her life through soul-searching diary entries while trying to fit in and help her friends work through their own identity searches.

Who among Sylvie’s friends will make the cut at Oberlin and go on to become professional musicians? Will Sylvie’s search for truth destroy or strengthen her relationships? And what can Elle and her friends learn from Sylvie and her time as they endure their own efforts to cope with social distancing and planning a wedding amid a pandemic?

 

 

A native of North Carolina, award-winning author Mary Flinn long ago fell in love with her state’s mountains and coast, creating the backdrops for her books. Playing by Heart is her tenth novel.

Books will be available for purchase on my website TheOneNovel.com and other platforms beginning October 1, 2022. Order autographed copies directly from my website for gift-giving and for yourself!

LUMINA is an indieBRAG Honoree!

 LUMINA has been honored with an indieBRAG Medallion! Here is one more affirmation that this historical novel is worth your time and money. Read comments from some of the judges:

"This book captivated me from start to finish. Bravo!"

"I was attracted to this story because of the time period and setting. It's set in 1928 and much of the story takes place at a dance hall on Wrightsville Beach. The author does an excellent job of conveying the flavor of the dance hall and the flapper era."

"I thought the novel was very well written. I enjoyed the characters and the plot and I loved how the present day story mirrored the past. It made me want to read the novels that came before this one."

Merry Twelfth Day of Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 Merry Christmas readers! As Twelfth Night approaches, let me fill you in on all that has happened since I last wrote.

As did so many folks I know, my husband and I hit our own reset button and mulled over our priorities while we quarantined at home during the Covid pandemic. We marveled at the money we were saving by not going out. We realized we could make do with much less and tried our best to safely support those in need of food and assistance, while staying contact-free. We also decided it was time to fix the house so we could plan a move in a couple of years. The punch list was made and completed in no time! When it was safe to travel, we took a house-hunting trip to Wilmington, NC and found the perfect house for us. It had everything we required--a master on the main level, a great kitchen, two rooms upstairs for our girls to visit, and a yard with a clean slate for the next chapters in our garden story. So in August, we moved!

Being retired afforded us the luxury of not worrying about working, unlike those on the front lines, and those who lost their jobs due to the shutdowns. We feel blessed to be in good health and we feel a commitment to do our part to keep others safe as well. We did have a family gathering at Christmas and I'm happy to report that all are well after our visit. As we looked for the silver linings the pandemic brought, we sorrowed with others who lost family members and friends during this sad time. We are grateful for the efforts of those front line workers, the doctors, nurses, hospital staff, grocery store workers and teachers, tradesmen and bankers, real estate agents and small business owners trying to keep things afloat. We look forward to better times filled with good health and happiness...and possibly a sequel to LUMINA coming sometime soon!

Below is a Christmas message I was inspired to write by my brother, who enjoys entertaining me with the most imaginative birthday cards he creates. This year's card had only four-letter words! I thought the idea was a fitting sentiment for 2020, so I continued on his word play just for fun!

 

All the Flinns at home in Wilmington, NC

 

Welcome Azalea Festival Street Fair Shoppers!

With the current pandemic and subsequent state of affairs, I am so happy that you have made it onto my website and apparently to my blog! As we have all had to give up our hopes and plans due to COVID-19, I am tremendously disappointed to miss this opportunity to visit Wilmington again and to share the stories of Lumina with so many who remember her. Those who are unacquainted with our premier beach pavilion that reigned on the southern tip of Wrightsville Beach from 1905 to her destruction in 1973 might get a small taste of what might have been in the summer of 1928. That was the year that the Shag was created by Lewis Philip Hall and introduced on the Lumina dance floor in August during the feast of Pirates. The Roaring Twenties was a time of extravagance and change, National Prohibition, the flappers and the changing roles of women, the invisible black population that built Wrightsville Beach, and the social mores of the times.

LUMINA transports the reader to the summer of 1928 to Wrightsville Beach where tourists, middle-class folks, and aristocrats alike are dancing the night away at the beachfront pavilion where they are falling in love—not only with each other but with the grand ballroom itself. Told in alternating sequences between modern-day friends and the newly discovered diary entries and old letters from young siblings on the brink of decadent change, Lumina becomes magic for anyone on the dance floor from eight until midnight. Kip and Sylvie are swept away until they realize that people are not always what they seem.

If you would like to order a copy of LUMINA, please return to the website and click on Buy the Book. I will be happy to send you an autographed copy. Thanks for visiting. 

I hope you find the magic!

Charlotte Readers Podcast February 25, 2020

Take a listen to Mary Flinn and Mary Ann Claud as they talk with Landis Wade of Charlotte Readers Podcast. LUMINA and Alex Dances are both books set in North Carolina and both have themes about dancing.

S5-08 Mary Ann Claud and Mary Flinn – “Alex Dances” and “Lumina”

https://content.blubrry.com/charlottereaderspodcast/Claud_and_Flinn_episode.mp3

The Lady on the Plane

After a full decade now of writing as a self-published author with nine novels to my credit, I am still undaunted in my quest to have my work read, whether as a best-selling author as I’d once hoped, or one who merely has a regional following. My old, red-hot dreams of supporting myself through my writing have faded to glowing embers, but I always find so much gratification in connecting personally with readers. Something larger than both the reader and the writer emerges as we come to know each other through the written word. We recognize a shared passion on the pages. For me, I can liken the experience to a runner’s high, or that sense of euphoria a musician or an actor experiences at the height of a performance. It is sensational. My readers tell me they love my work, which encourages me to keep writing and that exclamation, “I can’t wait for your next book!” inspires me to continue. I knew going into the writing vocation that authors I admire like J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame, Twilight series author Stephanie Myer, Catherine Stockett (The Help), and Jan Karon, author of the Mitford series, all had trouble finding an agent, so I knew to expect disappointment. Some of those authors claim it took over 60 tries to get noticed. I wasn’t particularly devastated when my own efforts didn’t result in an agent contract. Although I would like to sell more books, self-publishing hasn’t been a bad gig. If self-publishing was good enough for Benjamin Franklin, then I knew I should follow suit. But in the back of my mind I always think: I am only one person away from busting this thing wide open!

Last summer, on a Denver-bound plane to visit my daughter, the lady sitting next to me eventually asked what I was doing in my retirement. I told her I was an author, we talked about my books and my publishing journey. Also retired, this lady had been a high-powered executive in a marketing firm. As an avid reader, she seemed impressed with my determination and the gumption it must have taken me to learn how to go about self-publishing, but she wondered why I hadn’t hired an agent. I explained that I hadn’t found one and that each time I wrote a book, I researched prospective agents for my particular work and then sent out about 25 queries. Her reply was simple: “You didn’t send out enough. In business you have to follow a law-of-averages model to be successful. You have to send at least 100 queries. Of those, you’ll get about ten serious replies. Three or four will then drop out, three more will say they’re not interested and of the two remaining, one of them will take you on.” She then chuckled and said, “I really want to be your agent!” (Although I’d kind of wished she were serious, that never happened.)

The end of the story is—as always—to be continued. I believe a sequel is always possible in anything in life. With my next manuscript I’ll probably send out 100 queries to see where it leads. In the meantime, I still enjoy what I do, my positive reader feedback, and meeting nice people on airplanes who appreciate my craft. I have yet to sell enough books to be self-sufficient but fame and fortune were never my goals in the first place. An aura exists around the creation of something that comes from within and for me, that process is the prize.

Commemorative Christmas Ornament Features Lumina Pavilion

The Lumina Pavilion on Wrightsville Beach is now featured on this lovely collectible commemorative Christmas ornament. The Christmas 2019 ornament is the first of its kind, offered by the Wrightsville Beach Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to enhance recreational opportunities while helping preserve and improve the area's beautiful coastal environment. It also seeks to provide assistance within the county to educational and care-giving organizations in need, especially during times of natural disaster. This ornament, and those that will follow annually, will help raise funds to support the mission. By joining the Foundation and by gifting or collecting their annual ornament, you will put the "YOU" in their organization to help achieve their goals.

Christmas 2019 

This lovely ornament was sent to me by one of the organizers of the Wrightsville Beach Foundation. She found a copy of LUMINA that I'd left in her Little Free Library and decided I needed an ornament of my own! How fitting it is that the first ornament of its kind is of Lumina in the same year my LUMINA was published. I am so honored and touched by Jody Becker's kindness and recognition of my work. The universe has a wonderful way of connecting her beings!

You can order your own ornament at wrightsvillebeachfoundation.org.

Upcoming LUMINA Events

August 21- Wednesday at 7 pm - Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC

August 25 - Sunday from 6-9 pm - Lumina Daze at the Blockade Runner in Wrightsville Beach, NC

October 5 - Saturday - Ol' Front Porch Music Festival in Oriental, NC

October 19 - Saturday - Valle Country Fair, Valle Crucis, NC

November 2 - Saturday - Persimmon Festival, Colfax, NC

November 10 - Sunday from 11-4 MADE 4 the Holidays at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro, NC 27405

December 7 - Saturday from 10-3 - Holiday Market sponsored by the St. Francis Day School, 3506 Lawndale Dr., Greensboro, NC 27408

December 8 - Sunday from 11-4 MADE 4 the Holidays at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro, NC 27405

To order your autographed copies of LUMINA, or to request an author visit, please visit the website at www.TheOneNovel.com.

Looking for LUMINA?

You are invited to the LUMINA Book Launch!

Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at 5:30 pm

St. Francis Episcopal Church Parish Hall

3506 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro, NC 27408

Bring a friend, invite your book club!

Wear your shagging shoes!

RSVP to mflinn56@gmail.com by March 27, 2019

Here is a list of other signings and bookstores where LUMINA is sold:

April 5-7, 2019: The Azalea Festival Street Fair

Front Street, Wilmington, NC 

Friday from 6-10 pm, Saturday from 10 am - 6 pm, and Sunday, from 10 am-6 pm

Look for Mary Flinn's tent on Front Street near Cape Fear Community College

Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 3 pm - Book talk and signing at Sunrise Books

1101 N. Main St. Suite 202, High Point, NC 27262

Tuesday, April 16 at 7 pm - Book talk and signing at Barnes & Noble

3102 Northline Avenue, Friendly Center, Greensboro, NC 27408

Tuesday, May 7 at 7 pm - Book talk and signing at Scuppernong Books

304 S. Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27401

Saturday, May 18 at 2 pm - Book talk and signing at Barnes & Noble

6835 Conservation Way, Mayfaire Town Centre, Wilmington, NC 28405

Saturday, June 13 - Lumina Day at the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History

Explore Lumina "back in the day" spanning each decade from 1905 until 1973

Time TBA: games for kids, book talk, dance exhibitions, and refreshments at the newly restored 1924 Bordeaux Cottage on the museum site at 303 West Salisbury Street, Wilmington, NC 28480

LUMINA is proudly sold at these independent bookstores in North Carolina:

Scuppernong Books - Greensboro

Sunrise Books  - High Point

BookMarks - Winston-Salem

Quail Ridge Books - Raleigh

Park Road Books - Charlotte

Pomegranate Books - Wilmington

Old Books on Front Street in Wilmington

You may purchase autographed copies or request a visit by Mary Flinn at TheOneNovel.com

LUMINA Coming April 1 - No Fooling!

LUMINA will be released April 1. 

Please check back in March for more details. Copies will be available at TheOneNovel.com, Amazon, in Kindle and Nook formats, and in bookstores worldwide by special order.

“It was, after all, eight o’clock. We were perfect for four more hours.”

In the summer of 1928, Lumina, known as the “Palace of Light,” is only reachable from Wilmington, North Carolina by trolley car, where it occupies the entire southern tip of Wrightsville Beach. The grandest beach pavilion on the East Coast creates the backdrop for this fictional tale of young people falling in love—not only with each other but with Lumina itself, where everything is magic from eight until midnight on Saturday nights.

As twenty-year-old Kip Meeks writes in his opening letter to his college pal Perry, “Lumina is the great equalizer for young people who are out for a bit of fun and to celebrate the happiness of youth. The best of the bands come there to play for the summer and thousands of people from all walks of life—tourists and locals, middle-class and aristocrats alike, arrive to dance the evening away on a Saturday night. Many a romance has been born at Lumina, I’ll tell you.” Kip chronicles the summer in weekly letters to Perry, who is laid up in Pinehurst with a broken leg, while Kip’s seventeen-year-old sister Sylvie keeps a diary account of the same events—meeting an heiress with a secret, the jazz explosion, a new dance, and plenty of old front porch gossip—creating a compelling glimpse into two families’ lives.

Fast forward ninety years to the summer of 2018. While going through her late mother Sylvie’s possessions, Anne Borden Montgomery (known from the pages of Flinn’s A Girl Like That) discovers a manuscript that was never published, a novel, compiled from her mother’s diary and her uncle’s letters. AB shares the story on her own front porch with her eager friends, Mr. May, Elle, and Nate, who take turns reading the story aloud, finding interesting parallels in their own lives while becoming acquainted with "new" old friends.

Allegiance is Released

Allegiance, Mary Flinn's eighth novel is released. 

Set in Southern Pines, North Carolina, Allegiance is the story of two Army couples who live as best friends and neighbors off-post from Fort Bragg. The day before the men deploy to Afghanistan, Keri, wife of combat medic Logan Slater, overhears a secret she is not meant to know, which threatens to destroy all four friends. Her children, five-year-old Lacey and three-year-old Cole, hold her to her vow of friendship with neighbor Candy, and loyalty to their father, as she has taught them while explaining the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Mary Flinn’s Allegiance is a beautiful glimpse into the lives of characters so rich and authentic you feel every heartache, triumph, loss, and gain. A story of fidelity, heroism, friendship, and family, Flinn leaves you in complete bliss but still wanting more long after you’ve turned the last page.”

     — Sabrina Sells Stephens, author of Banker’s Trust and Canned Good

“Allegiance is the kind of novel that gets under your skin. Infidelity is not an easy or fun topic, but Mary Flinn turns it into a transformative lesson about love, honesty, patience, and understanding that supersedes the characters’ initial pain. I guarantee you will be stunned when all is revealed, and perhaps even a little emotionally healed.”

—   Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and award-winning author of Narrow Lives and The Best Place

“Cheers for Allegiance! A great work penned by a writer with an acute sense of social and emotional depth. This is a powerful story that quickly had me questioning my own humanity. This book is also a beacon of hope. Most of us have experienced the range of emotions woven into this story at one time or another. Keri and Logan’s journey is a roadmap showing all of us how to treat our fellow man. Mary Flinn at her finest!”

     —  A.W. Hammock, former U.S. Army Ranger and author of Night of the Hatchet

To order your autographed copies, return to the website, www.TheOneNovel.com and click on Buy the Book.