Wednesday evening, I spent time with an amazing group of readers at the Atlanta History Center. This facility is one of my favorites in the city – it’s in the heart of the Buckhead district and just across the street from the Georgia Governor’s Mansion. If you’ve watched the Hunger Games and most Tyler Perry movies, you’ll be familiar with the Swann House on campus. But that evening, I gathered with several dozen other readers in the beautiful McElreath Hall to hear Terah Shelton Harris discuss her debut novel with Carolyn Curry.
Harris has spent nearly 20 years as a librarian and is currently a Collection Development librarian. I was excited to hear she reads over 100 books every year – partially for work, but also for pleasure. I’m on track to read around 150 myself! In her work as a librarian, she hears from readers like us about what they want – diverse stories from new authors and about topics that aren’t out there in the literary world yet. That is part of the reason she chose to write this novel – there are no other books out there that cover something similar.
While I had heard about One Summer in Savannah when it was released a few weeks back, I wasn’t sure it was something I wanted to read. This is one of those novels that walks through some very heavy material emotionally, and I didn’t think it was the right time. However, hearing the author discuss this book changed my mind – this is a beautiful story I can’t wait to dig in to! Harris began writing this novel in 2020 during the worldwide pandemic and knows this is just the start for stories like this.
If you would like to avoid spoilers or too much detail, please skip ahead by clicking here.
One Summer in Savannah follows Sarah Lancaster on her journey back to her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, after her father gets sick. Sarah left town several years before after she was sexual assaulted, becoming pregnant with her attacker’s child. Coming home, she has to face her fear and loses the security she built for herself out of the state. Sara learns to forgive and to move on from her past, building a new future for herself and her daughter.
During the talk, Harris discussed how this story was inspired by a friend revealing her own assault and childbearing, as well as the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. She discussed how forgiveness is central to the story, and was a common theme in both of the real-life moments that inspired it. It is what Harris calls the greatest takeaway for readers. Forgiveness was actually something that came up quite often that evening, including my private conversation with the author during the signing where I revealed my own personal connection to the story as the product of a sexual assault who was given up for adoption. My birthmother has not been able to process the act and could not forgive her attacker – or me.
An aspect of this story that I had not considered before this talk is the law and regulations in each state around parental rights in these situations. Our group discussion covered how there is no law at the federal level that addresses the parental or grandparental rights of the attacker and their family. Each state has their own approach, meaning the situation can greatly vary depending on geography. For instance, here in Geogia, it’s largely left up to the discretion of the judge if those parental rights should be terminated. However, in Maine, where Sarah moves to protect her child, the laws are some of the most anti-perpetrator in the country. When Sarah moves back to Savannah, she is leaving the protection of those tough laws and stepping into an environment that could be just the opposite.
I also found the discussion about Hosea, Sarah’s father, very intriguing. After becoming ill, Hosea begins speaking in poetry. This was inspired by Harris’ own grandfather who lost his ability to speak all together after a stroke. Like everything included in her writing, Harris says the use of poetry was very intentional – poems often require multiple readings to full grasp the meaning behind the words, meaning it is not an easy way to communicate. I can barely recite one poem, but Harris said that poetry comes easy to her and she didn’t need as much research to uncover and incorporate these into the novel.
In discussing research though, Harris remarked that she did a good deal of research for various aspects of the plot. Sarah’s daughter is a genius, and Harris wanted to understand more about the various types of genius. Her research led her to choose how to write about the daughter, but also to include another event based on a true story – a child solving a mathematical problem that adults were not able to resolve! Harris also utilized the knowledge and experience of friends in the science fields to check her writing about the more technical and scientific moments in the book.
We also discussed the outcome of the book. Her original intention was not for Sarah to end up with her attacker’s brother. She did include the tension between the characters throughout, but had planned to leave the book with their independence and boundaries intact. Harris discussed how she got questions from several people on the publishing team over the course of several months about why the characters were not together at the end. Harris made note that once an idea or question comes to her several times like that, she has learned to stop and listen to it. While she may not always make the change, she does investigate its merits before dismissing it again.
Finally, both in the group discussion and our private discussion at the signing, Harris remarked that this book is not for everyone. It was interesting to hear that she believes in trigger warnings and caution labels on novels. When I mentioned my personal connection to the novel, she immediately said it’s ok for me not to read it. Harris has taken such care with the telling of this story and with how readers will approach it!
While I am excited to read this new release, I am also excited about the prospect of her next book due in the Spring of 2024 titled Long After We Are Gone. It will follow four siblings who return home after their father’s death to fight for their ancestral land. This is yet another heavy topic that has been inspired by true events – so many blacks bought “undesirable” land during reconstruction because it was the only thing they were offered. But now that land is some of the last undeveloped land in the country. In her own words – that swampland is now every developer’s dream.
I love author events like this one because you learn so much about both the author and their works. I took more than 4 pages of notes throughout the discussion and Q&A session. Not all of those notes made it into this post. I would encourage you to attend future discussions and signings by Terah Shelton Harris to hear her inspirational words and learn more about One Summer in Savannah yourself!
Also – are you an Atlanta History Center member? It appears they have a great event program with many more author discussions and signings coming up this year! I’d love to see you in person at the next!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: Hang the Moon, Jeanette Walls
- Current audio book: Angels & Demons, Dan Brown
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Triptych, Karen Slaughter
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