Inventing Savannah
by
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It had begun to rain. The street on the side of the hotel was narrow and surprisingly empty. The aroma from the hotel kitchen, mixed with the stale, foul odor of the hotel trash dumpster pierced her nostrils. Savannah steadied herself against the wall of the building and peeled off one high heel, then yanked off the other. With her shoes in hand, she flagged a taxi. By luck a driver stopped. She jumped in and slid across the leather seat, wet with rain. Rolling up the window, she let her head fall back.
"Where to?" asked the driver. His voice
was old but kind.
"Fulton Country Jail, and hurry.
Please." Savannah sighed, utterly
exhausted.
Tucker was lying on his cot, reading All The Kings Men. He rose when he heard
her identifiable footsteps coming down the corridor. She stood in shadow when
he greeted her. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked.
Savannah took a step forward into the meager light.
He noticed how well dressed she was, but ironically, how disheveled she seemed.
His face was impassive as he waited for her to speak. She looked down at her
torn stockings and ran her hands over her smudged face.
"What happened to you?" His voice was
gentle.
Savannah shrugged. The silence was dubious. He waited.
"Shit, Tucker," Savannah sighed, "why
am I the only one who believes you did not intentionally kill that man?"
They both heard the sound of somebody rustling
around in the cell across from Tucker.
Carl Lee. They both chose to
ignore him.
"I am," continued Savannah, "the
laughing stock of Atlanta..."
She wrapped her fingers around the bars and pressed
her cheek against the cold metal.
"Tell me you are innocent, one more time. Just tell me." She pleaded desperately.
He touched her face through the bars. Savannah closed her eyes as he whispered.
"I have told you."
"Then why don’t I feel safe?" A tear rolled down her cheek as images of
Franklin and Cash filtered through her mind.
"I have never felt safe a day in my life."
said Tucker.
There was something in the way he said it, admitted
it, that pacified Savannah. It was like
hearing her own truth told by someone else.
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About the Book
A riveting tale of loss, rediscovery, truth and redemption, Inventing
Savannah is part courtroom drama, part personal quest. Despite her successful career and loving
parents, a mysterious past haunts Atlanta based public defender Savannah
Dreyden whose life is complicated by her stormy, passionate and disintegrating
marriage to Cash, her high school sweetheart.
A disarming, disingenuous drug addict who binges on poker games and
strip clubs, Cash nonetheless is alluring to Savannah. She clings to him and the
fantasy that they and their young son, Billy, are a complete picture.
When Tucker Johnston, a UPS delivery driver delivers his last UPS
package of the day and witnesses the sexual molestation of a four year old
girl, he rescues the child. In the midst of this rescue, there is a fight , and
the perpetrator falls to his death.
Savannah Dreyden is assigned to the case. From the moment they meet, she
is drawn to her client, Tucker Johnston, and believes fiercely in his
innocence.
An underlying theme is Savannah’s search for her biological
parents,which devastates her adoptive parents. Taken into custody as a ward of
the state as an infant she was adopted out of foster care at two-years old. Through hypnosis and a relentless search headed by Jim Clarke, an
adoption advocate and private investigator, Savannah is led to her birth father
and lost family. Once she crosses this
bridge, Savannah realizes the life she has known is forever altered. Juxtaposed
with the intensity of finding her own blood ties is the highly publicized,
political trial of Tucker Johnston, including the machinations of a corrupt
D.A.’s office.
Based on actual events, this compelling tale weaves together the
intricacies of family life and the irreversibility of the past. In a stunning climax, Savannah comes to
terms with those promises made and promises broken as she faces a future she
can call her own.
About the Author
Susan Shapiro Barash has a master’s degree in English and creative
writing from New York University. She has authored SECOND WIVES, A PASSION FOR
MORE, SISTERS: DEVOTED OR DIVIDED, and THE MEN OUT THERE for which she has
appeared on nationwide television shows, local television and over three
hundred radio programs across the country.
Barash teaches screenwriting at Marymount Manhattan College.
Joanne Lara earned her BFA from the University of South Florida. A
director/writer for film, Lara also produces for television (HBO). As an
actress, Lara has co-starred on ER and a Columbo Movie of the Week. She teaches
Special Education (students with autism) and attends graduate school at Cal
State University.