A Quiet Table in the Corner

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After thirty years of teaching English to reluctant middle schoolers, Bella Mariotti is burned out, her blood pressure dangerously high, and retirement seems like her only option.

So she does the unthinkable: she risks her savings to open a coffee shop.

At Buzzed, Bella finally stops playing by the rules. She trades her dress code wardrobe for an edgy hairstyle and a nose ring, comes out as a lesbian, and discovers the freedom of becoming the woman she’s always wanted to be.

Then something unexpected happens.

Her customers become regulars. The regulars become friends. And four very different people begin gathering at the corner table: an artist, a newly widowed orthodontist, a chef battling sobriety, and Bella’s estranged father, who has suddenly become homeless.

Over coffee and conversation, these unlikely companions become a family – and Buzzed becomes the one place where each of them can belong.

Until gentrification threatens to demolish the coffee shop.

Now the people who found friendship, acceptance, and a second chance at Bella’s corner table are challenged to come together to save the place that saved them.

Warm, funny, and deeply human, Quiet Table in the Corner is a feel-good story about late-life reinvention, unlikely friendships, and discovering that sometimes the family you need is at the table next to you.

Praise for A Quiet Table in the Corner

This isn’t the Savannah of hokey ghost tours and drunken bachelorette bashes. Rather Susan Earl casts an insider’s eye on the human costs of the city’s unbridled growth through the stories of a group of friends who meet at a downtown coffee shop. “A Quiet Table” is a charming tribute to the friendship that helps them overcome personal loss as well as the rampant development that threatens their way of life, and eventually the coffee shop itself. ——Herbert Buchsbaum, Former Senior Editor, The New York Times

“A Quiet Table in the Corner” invites readers to immerse themselves in the rich tapestry of a city in search of the true meaning of home. And it’s not just Savannash. So many other communities across the country are wrestling with this question: Who are we as a community after getting pushed around and encountering loss?—-The Rev. Michael Chaney

Susan Earl has compassion for her characters and a true gift for their gab. I read “A Quiet Table in the Corner” as if these relatable people were my friends, rooting for them through challenges, crises, and triumphs. It made me consider my own life as a teacher, friend, family member, and citizen.—-Laurie Katz, daughter of Anita Raskin, Savannah’s original Book Lady.

In today’s world, who hasn’t dreamed of a quiet table in the corner—or another place of blissful retreat? Susan Earl’s novel depicts the healing that reconnection brings to estranged relatives, families of choice, even to two homegrown businesses. This satisfying book offers a seat at a quiet table for a genuinely happy day. —-Roger Smith, Director of The Learning Center, Senior Citizens, Inc.