Hot off the Press!

What an exciting week this has been at Andalusia! On Tuesday we got our first shipment of At Home with Flannery O'Connor: An Oral History. Even as I write this post, editors Craig Amason and Bruce Gentry are in the Andalusia dining room signing copies of this much anticipated book. When I started here three years ago, I had heard talk about an oral history project that was in the works. At that point, some tape-recorded interviews had been made of people who knew Flannery O'Connor and had visited her at the fabled farm, and I was told that these interviews would some day - who knew when at that point - be compiled, edited, and made into a book. One of my earliest memories at Andalusia was the day Flannery's cousin, Frances Florencourt, interviewed Mary Barbara Tate, former English professor at Georgia College and one of O'Connor's good friends. After the interview was finished, Miss Florencourt invited me to the back parlor to listen to the finished product along with Mrs. Tate. What a wonderful story-teller Mary Barbara is! I was so charmed by her home-spun tales of visiting the O'Connors at Andalusia, and I promise you will be too when you read her memoirs and those of all the other interviewees in At Home with Flannery O'Connor: An Oral History. The book sells for $19.95 and is available in the Andalusia gift shop or by mail order. Signed copies are also available upon request. Stay tuned for more details about an upcoming book-signing party and reception at Andalusia.
- Mark