Tag Archives: patticallahan

Book Review: Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan

I’m big Callahan fan and have read every book she has written. Although I read a quite a bit of historical fiction, I must confess that the author’s change of genre made me a bit sad – because I will miss her special brand of southern women’s fiction. Well guess what? This book gave me both!

Synopsis:

When Savannah history professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection focusing on artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she’s shocked. The ship sank after a boiler explosion in 1838, and the wreckage was just discovered, 180 years later. Everly can’t resist the opportunity to try to solve some of the mysteries and myths surrounding the devastating night of its sinking.

Everly’s research leads her to the astounding history of a family of eleven who boarded the Pulaski together, and the extraordinary stories of two women from this family: a known survivor, Augusta Longstreet, and her niece, Lilly Forsyth, who was never found, along with her child. These aristocratic women were part of Savannah’s society, but when the ship exploded, each was faced with difficult and heartbreaking decisions. This is a moving and powerful exploration of what women will do to endure in the face of tragedy, the role fate plays, and the myriad ways we survive the surviving.

Review:

One of the elements of the book that I loved was the dual timelines that tie the present to the past. This is a device that Beatrix Williams and Sarah Jio also use, which gives us two stories to enjoy. Surviving Savannah is an engrossing novel that provides the reader with a history lesson, a mystery, an analysis of racial issues in the south, an exploration of the difficulties of “surviving the surviving,” and addresses eternal questions about fate and destiny. It is a page turner!

The history of the Pulaski is fascinating and heartbreaking. Make no doubt about it, this book at times it is very hard to read – especially if you are a mother. Yet Callahan has created characters, based on actual passengers, who are so compelling that your heart aches for what those passengers experienced. I had to put the book down a few times and just breath. The descriptions of the aftermath of the explosion (one of the boilers on the ship explodes, which caused the ship to sink) and what the passengers endured is horrific – Sophie’s Choice types of decisions were made. God’s Providence is brought up many times, but still hard to fathom.

Throughout the book, Callahan examines the question that anyone who has experienced – and survived – great tragedy and loss will ultimately ask themselves. How do I survive the surviving? When you lose someone (or multiple someones), how do you go on? Do you live your life with gratitude and renewed purpose? Do you live a better life because of it? Or do you let the loss destroy all that is good and noble in you? Does the anger and bitterness win? Fifty-nine passengers survived the Pulaski. Some completely started over. Some honored the past and the lives lost, while managing to keep on living. Others, despite living and breathing, died on the inside. What determines how you will live?

“The idea that surviving brings everyone to a new and better place is a lie told by people who need the world to make sense.”

Grief leads us to ask why? Why did this happen? Why did I survive? This is where, for some, God’s Providence comes in. Yet, we all know good, young people who die, and you cannot make sense of it. You want a reason, you need one. Unfortunately, often there isn’t one, and that can break your soul. 

“There many ways to survive and many ways to survive the surviving. The darkness was there, too. Survival wasn’t just about the happy story of living. Some didn’t survive the living. Some did awful things with the second chance.”

Surviving Savannah is also a story of hope – I promose. The present-day heroine of the book, Everly, experienced her own tragedies. She feels a kinship with Augusta & Lilly (passengers on the ship) that has its own special synchronicity. Through her work curating the Pulaski artifacts, Everly’s able to process her own grief and change her own destiny. Just because you choose to forge ahead with living, doesn’t mean you forget the past, rather, you honor it.

The author thoroughly researched her subject. When I read historical fiction that’s based on a real-life event, I usually end up on Google, to discern for myself what is true and what is poetic license. I also want to find out what happens next. I didn’t have to do this for the history of the Pulaski. Callahan shares some of her extensive research in the Author’s Notes, and brings the story full circle, so we know how everything, and everyone ended up. She also shares the interesting tidbit that the Pulaski was discovered 100 feet under the sea – while she was doing research for this book – a sure sign that she was meant to tell this story. And she did it so well! This is a wonderful book and I urge you to read it! But have the tissue handy!

Surviving Savannah

Here it is! I am so excited to share the cover for Surviving Savannah by New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan, on sale March 9, 2021. It’s inspired by the true and forgotten story of the sinking of the “Titanic of the South” #survivingsavannah #patticallahan Pre-order it here and visit Patti online at her website. Also, once upon a time Patti participated in one of my “Books of My Life” interviews, which you can read here.

About the book

New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan delivers a breathtaking novel based on true events.
It was called “The Titanic of the South”—the luxury steamship that sank in 1838 with Savannah’s elite on board. Through time, their fates were forgotten—until the wreck was found.

Now their story is finally being told.

When Savannah history professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection focusing on artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she’s shocked. The ship sank after a boiler explosion in 1838, and the wreckage was just discovered, 180 years later. Everly can’t resist the opportunity to try to solve some of the mysteries and myths surrounding the devastating night of its sinking.

Everly’s research leads her to the astounding history of a family of eleven who boarded the Pulaski together, and the extraordinary stories of two women from this family: a known survivor, Augusta Longstreet, and her niece, Lilly Forsyth, who, along with her child, was never found. The women were part of Savannah society, but when the ship exploded, each was faced with difficult and heartbreaking decisions. This is a moving and powerful exploration of what women will do to endure in the face of tragedy, the role fate plays, and the myriad ways we survive the surviving.

Perfect for fans of Before We Were YoursSold on a Monday, and Orphan Train, Callahan’s highly anticipated novel tells the story of a little known chapter of history that has long deserved a spotlight. This transformative tale told from alternating past and present perspectives will sweep readers away and move them to their core.

Q&A with Patti Callahan

What inspired you to write Surviving Savannah?

Originally I was inspired by the Pulaski tales of survival, how the city of Savannah was part of this story, and how the Lowcountry was affected by this tragedy. I was also inspired and curious about the transformation of each passenger and the ways that each survivor not only lived through the explosion, but also how they chose to live their lives after the sinking.

How, I wondered, do some come to live better lives and others turn toward bitterness and cruelty? Who do we become after such great loss?

AND then!, everything shifted because after a hundred and eighty years, along came a shipwreck hunting crew who found the remains of the Pulaski a hundred feet beneath the waves, thirty miles off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. While the team went deep to bring up the artifacts and treasure of this beautiful ship, I dug deep to bring up the stories.  

My exhilarating hunt for the forgotten story began.

What kind of research was required to write the novel? Did anything surprise you?

The research was as fascinating as it was extensive – from the archives at the Georgia Historical Center in Savannah and the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum to books, newspaper archives, personal accounts and letters, I read everything that I could get my hands on. I devoured books on steamships and Savannah in the 1800’s. I read about the rich history of the colonization of Savannah with General Oglethorpe. I walked the streets of Savannah and visited museums and artifact collections. I interviewed shipwreck experts and became enchanted with the world of wreck salvaging and treasure hunting.

During this journey, I was surprised over and over, but one surprise that opens the novel is the true narrative about a fifteen-year-old passenger named Charles who survived the sinking to become a slave trader with a horrific reputation. As he grew into a man, he earned the nickname “the Red Devil”. How had this young boy survived to become so cruel? I wanted to know. 

Finally, after years of research, I put together a complete story of that calamitous night, and one family in particular.

Your story follows three women – Lily and Augusta on the ship in 1838, and Everly in present day. Which of the three women did you relate to the most and why?

While I was writing each section I always felt the most connected to the woman I was writing about at the moment. I don’t think I felt more for one woman than another but of course our modern-day character, Everly felt more relatable only because I know today’s Savannah and I know today’s southern norms and ideas. The historical narratives were almost two hundred years old, and yet I still felt as close to Lilly and Augusta because their plight and their desires and their inner lives feel familiar. As far as women have come in their roles in society, there is still the struggle for independence and agency. There remains the need to burst through familial and collective norms to build a life of one’s own.

All three women had their own tragedies, hardships and losses to navigate. All three needed to discover how they would make meaning and purpose out of their situation. All three found out what they were truly made of and if they wanted to merely survive or if they wanted to thrive and build new lives.

Advance Digital Copy Giveaways

You can enter for a chance to win an advanced digital review copy of the book here: https://sweeps.penguinrandomhouse.com/enter/surviving-savannah-cover-reveal-sweeps

(NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. US Residents, 18+. Ends August 17, 2020. See official rules at official website.)