Lori Crane has done it again. She’s written another southern historical novel with unforgettable characters. Savannah’s Bluebird is set in the years after the stock market crash in 1929 in Biloxi.

The delightful story of the bluebird and its relation to true love stands at the center of this charming and magical tale of the vagaries of life and its various dips and turns.

Crane creates a haunting tale with a surprise ending. Savannah’s Bluebird is more of a novella, so to say anything more about it would be to give away too much of its intriguing plot.

I recommend Savannah’s Bluebird for a relaxing read on a rainy afternoon or a day at the beach this summer. You’ll be rewarded with a trip back to a different place and time with a few surprises on the journey.

Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook of another of Lori Crane’s novels, Okatibbee Creek.

From the very beginning, I was captivated by this story and its picturesque setting and its cast of characters making a life before, during, and after the years of the Civil War. The narrator of the audio tape, Margaret Lepera, provides just the right touch of a southern accent to make the narration of Mary Ann Rodgers’ landscape and personality leap to life.

Lori Crane is an exceptional storyteller of the Deep South. The ingrained notion of slavery is accepted by the characters and the fight over it through such a high price is puzzling to the characters of Okatibbee Creek. They end up freeing their slaves anyway as a result of the destroyed economy of this part of Mississippi. The strong female, Mary Ann, keeps families together and carries on the tradition of her father and mother in the love shown to all human beings. A life examined is one worth living and Crane presents us with one exceptional life worth examining in the audio or book form of Okatibbee Creek.