Fans flock to book signing

MOUNT PLEASANT -- Winding through the aisle of self-help books on enhancing love lives and preserving marriages, a line formed to meet the state's first lady Saturday as she signed copies of the memoir chronicling her relationship before and after Gov. Mark Sanford's public affair with an Argentine mistress.

Jenny Sanford sat at the end of that queue inside Barnes & Noble at Towne Centre wearing black pants and a black-and-white swirled shirt and smiling as she personalized copies of "Staying True." Patti Morrison, store manager of the North Charleston Barnes & Noble, said hundreds of people came out for the book signings held in Mount Pleasant and in Columbia Friday night.

Ghana native Agnes Appiagyei, who now lives in Mount Pleasant, planned to send her copy to her sister back in Africa, grappling with problems similar to Sanford's.

"I think she would gather some strength from it," Appiagyei said. "If some day she wants to write, she has ideas."

Mount Pleasant resident Sharon Strubel said she read the book after hearing excerpts and realizing the media missed one of the aspects Strubel found most interesting: Sanford's devotion to her religion.

"I just wanted a chance to meet her," Strubel said. "It was very well-written. I was impressed with her strength, her honesty, her faith."

James Island resident Kent Watson, one of the few men in line Saturday, said he once met the governor and now wanted to meet Jenny Sanford. His wife, Mary, said she took interest in "Staying True" after reading and hearing interviews with the first lady.

"Being a woman, you're curious about those things," she said.

Mary Watson said she bought the book and began reading it before Saturday's signing

"It's not the most riveting read, plotline-wise, because you kind of know the end," Watson said. "But it's nice, because it's something every woman can relate to."

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.