We’re very pleased to welcome Dr. Michael Seabaugh to Skylark on Monday (note!) May 19 to discuss his delightful and heartwarming novel, Gwendolyn and Eddie. Set in Missouri, this a surefire winner for bookclubs!

It begins with a monkey. It ends with an inescapable tragedy.

In 1957, Gwendolyn is living the domestic dream as the prized wife of the dashing Dr. Paul Stanley Bollinger, with three beautiful, healthy children and a charming Edwardian home in the historic town of Cape Girardeau.

Enter Eddie, an inebriated monkey brought home as a poker prize by her equally drunk husband. Thus begins Gwendolyn's yearslong struggle to domesticate two unruly fellas. Eddie is a hilarious handful but no match for Paul Stanley and his increasing penchant for bourbon and nurses. Meanwhile, as the predictable 1950s evolve into the increasingly tumultuous '60s and beyond, Gwendolyn finds her conservative beliefs challenged by the realities of racism, homophobia, traditional masculinity, the sexual revolution, and the struggle for women's rights.

For over forty years, a time marked by hilarity, heartbreak, and tragedy, Eddie serves as her clown prince, her unexpected confidant, and when all is said and done, her solace. The story of Gwendolyn and Eddie is ultimately about cages-the ones we are born into, those we construct for ourselves, and the ones we impose on those we love.

Dr. Michael Seabaugh is a clinical psychologist and author who lives in Santa Barbara, California. A Missouri native, he graduated from Mizzou’s School of Journalism before heading west to get an MFA from UCLA’s Film School and eventually a doctorate in Psychology from USC. An abiding interest in the complex stories of human struggle, conflict, and redemption has always guided his professional endeavors. After years of listening to these stories, he now turns to telling them through the artifice of fiction, for as Picasso said: “Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”