Olivia Stowe

Chatham Square Olivia Stowe

This charming and inspirational novella reflects perfectly what makes the beautifully designed and peopled southern city of Savannah the special place that it is. It is seemingly a coincidence that master doll maker Ginny Standler inherits a co-op apartment fronting on the Chatham Square of Savannah, Georgia, from her Aunt Marie while simultaneously being offered an interim teaching position at Savannah's College of Art and Design. Both circumstances enable and propel her to escape the Fan district of Richmond, Virginia, and its constant reminders of a romance having gone disturbingly sour and giving Ginny pause to question her value system and relationships with others.
Dropped unceremoniously in the quirky charm of Savannah's park-laced historical district-and most significantly into contact with the people who live and thrive in that environment-Ginny quickly becomes entwined with a grouchy recluse; a sour, erratic, and sometimes irrational bag lady; a young girl direly in need of healing; a young waiter laughing through his tears; a bitter poet; and a possible new love interest. And she just as quickly becomes embroiled in the individual letter-signaled mysteries of this set of characters that both repels and compels them one from another-but that somehow makes them a caring community. A community that Ginny comes to suspect her Aunt Marie has purposely enfolded her into to begin the healing in her own life.