Mary Ann Claud

Mary Ann Claud is a singer, a lover of the arts, a mother and grandmother, a wife, a friend, a lover of life. She has written professionally for decades and has now brought her talent and experience to her first novel. THE DANCIN' MAN is a family saga, its drama playing out against the backdrop of social and economic change in the American South from the 1950s until the 1980s.
In her second novel, WHIRLYGIG; THE DANCIN' MAN'S DAUGHTER, Claud focuses on Volly Brunson and her return to Parkersburg SC in 1999. With a recently won MBA in hand, she intends to revive and modernize the family business and accept the responsibilities she has run from for the intermittent ten years. But there are problems. Volly's father, the company president, has other plans for the business he has handled for the past thirty years. Volly's uncle, Sam Ward is in increasingly poor health and Montvue, the family estate he manages, needs attention. Very quickly Volly discovers that life in Parkersburg has not changed since she left. But she has.

ALEX DANCES continues the family saga of the Wards and Brunsons, builders and heirs of a fabled Southern textile empire. In this installment, fifteen year-old Alexandra Ward Dixon is the heroine, the fourth generation of strong-willed Southern women. Rather than step into the family business, however, Alex has chosen to become a classical dancer. And therein lies the story.

Mary Ann Claud lives in Tryon, NC with her husband, Olin Sansbury. Together they visit festivals, book club meets and book stores talking about the dysfunctional Ward/Brunson clan sharing what she describes as the great adventure of writing as a career. You can read more about her at maryannclaud.com.

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