Meet Our Docents

Nancy led her first tour through the Home in September, 2007. Her favorite room is the Bruckheimer Library. Her favorite story to share with our guests is about Mary Flannery being transferred to Sacred Heart from St. Vincent's. Many years later, while growing up here on the Isle of Hope, Nancy attended both schools, though St. Vincent's had become the Academy for high schoolers by that time. Still her attendance at both of these shools gives her a unique and personal perspective on a very important stage in Flannery's childhood here in Savannah.

Early Reviews of "Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor"

Here's a review of Brad Gooch's book in the LA Times, and here's a review in the Washington Times. 

From the Washington Times: "Mr. Gooch has crafted the first serious biography of the distinguished Georgia writer, and in doing so he clears away some misconceptions about O'Connor and clarifies much about her life and work."

From the LA Times: "Gooch is brilliant on the fiction, passionate and smart, able to contextualize both the individual pieces and the scope of the career. He astutely notes that, despite producing two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, O'Connor was not really a novelist, which is why those books don't quite hold up. She was, rather, perhaps the greatest 20th century American practitioner of the short story, a writer with an acute moral vision who understood that faith and salvation do not necessarily go hand in hand."

Brad Gooch to launch new O'Connor Biography in Savannah

Please join us at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26 at Trinity United Methodist Church on Telfair Square for a talk by Brad Gooch, whose major new work Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor is being published by Little, Brown just a day earlier. Book sales, signing and a reception will immediately follow Brad's talk at the Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences.

We'll add more links about the book in the coming weeks.

"This splendid biography gives us no saint or martyr but the story of a gifted and complicated woman, bent on making the best of the difficult hand fate has dealt her, whether it is with grit and humor or with an abiding desire to make palpable to readers the terrible mystery of God's grace." -- Frances Kiernan, author of Seeing Mary Plain: A Life of Mary McCarthy

Meet Our Docents

It was October, 2007 and Marsha Bradford was driving south along I-95. She meant to spend the night in Charleston but missed the exit. She decided to drive on until she reached Savannah and we're glad she did. That November she was volunteering here at the Home as a docent. Unfortunately for us, she has moved on from this fair city but not so far away that she can't return from time to time and delight our guests with her tour.

New Arrivals

We are proud to display "Maggie" and a child's tea set, both circa 1929 in Mary Flannery's bedroom. These generous and heartfelt donations are from Mr. & Mrs. J. Benjamin Kay III, Augusta, GA. Mr. Kay's mother, Lois Anderson Sullivan Kay, had them as a child. They are donated in her memory. The Kays had toured the Home in 2008. During their walk through the bedrooms, Mrs. Kay thought the doll and tea set would be a wonderful addition. And so they are. Many thanks to the Kays for their thoughtful gifts to Flannery O'Connor's Childhood Home.

Meet Our Docents

Jan Fluitt-Dupuy is our newest docent. She is Director of English as a Second Language at Savannah College of Arts and Design. Having just moved to Savannah a year ago, she took advantage of the Super Museum Sunday program last February and visited the Childhood Home. As she toured our museum, she asked Jane Thimme, one of the volunteers-and Board members-on duty, if there was a need for docents. Jane quickly recruited Jan and we are pleased to have her on staff. She especially likes to show our guests Mary Flannery's bedroom. The afternoon light makes it a special place.