Callahan Henry releases new book set in Savannah

Patti Callahan Henry’s newest novel is a mix of her past and present. 

Her first inspiration, she said, is her obsession with letterpress, stationery and handmade things. Secondly, she draws from her first career working as a nurse for patients with closed head injuries at Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta. And third, she explores the gray area of betrayal.

These three themes are interwoven in The Stories We Tell, set to be released June 24. It tells the story of husband Cooper, artistic wife Eve and daughter Gwen, a picturesque family beloved by their community in Savannah. In the first chapter, their lives are shaken when secrets and tensions are created with a car crash.

“It’s about the stories we tell each other and how we find the truth inside those stories,” Henry said. “I told it all from main character’s perspective because I wanted her to unravel the truth for herself and I wanted you, the reader, to be right there with her.”

Henry has written 10 previous novels, but this is the first one to both be set in Savannah and not to leave the city where its setting begins.

“It starts with the car crash and moves really fast straight forward from that moment,” she said.

Before the book’s June 24 release, there will be an art show and book signing on June 23 at 7 p.m. at Gallery 1930 in English Village. Photos inspired by the card ideas in the book will be on display. There will also be an event that day at 11:30 a.m. at The Summit Club. 

Henry is a New York Times bestselling storyteller of 11 books. She has resided in Mountain Brook, with her husband, Pat, and children Meagan, Thomas and Rusk, since 2011. Her 2013 release, And Then I Found You, which was partially set in Birmingham, came out in paperback last month.