I'm headed to Savannah, Georgia tomorrow for a visit with my family. Savannah is a beautiful old city, famous for it's city squares and Paula Deen. If you've never been, it is definitely worth a visit! I did a historic house tour with my mother a few years ago, and it was amazing. The city is definitely built for tourists, everything is close, and it's easy to walk. There are unique shops, and the fantastic store for SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design. I've found a few treasures there. I will be enjoying some inter coastal waterway views from my parents backyard, definitely a few days at Tybee Island with the nephews and maybe even some grits!
Savannah is also the backdrop for the novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Wikipedia describes the story as such:"The action that serves as a catalyst in the book is the murder of Danny Hansford, a local hustler (characterized as "a good time not yet had by all") by respected art dealer Jim Williams, an event that resulted in four murder trials, all documented in the book. Hansford and Williams were linked sexually, but the exact nature of their relationship was unclear. The murder took place in Williams' home, originally built by an ancestor of songwriter and Savannah native Johnny Mercer.
The book also highlights many other residents of Savannah, most notably The Lady Chablis, a local drag queen and entertainer. Chablis provides both a Greek chorus of sorts as well as a lighthearted contrast to the more serious action.
The book's plot is based on real-life events that occurred in the 1980s and is classified as nonfiction. Because it reads like a novel, it is sometimes referred to as a "nonfiction novel," a subgenre popularized by Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. (Booksellers generally feature the title in the "true crime" subsection.) It is among the most popular nonfiction releases of all time.
The title alludes to the voodoo notion of "midnight"; the period between the time for good magic and the time for evil magic; in "the garden of good and evil," which refers principally to Bonaventure Cemetery.
The famous Bird Girl statue, originally designed both as art and as a birdseed holder, was originally located at Bonaventure. A Savannah photographer, Jack Leigh, was commissioned to take a photograph for the cover of the book and created his now famous photograph of the statue. The Bird Girl was relocated in 1997 for display in the Telfair Museum in Savannah."
I'll be blogging while on my vaycay...I'll keep y'all posted...
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