Georgia's Folly
By Deborah Chase
Publication Date: 11th September 2024
Publisher: Historium Press
Page Length: 319 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
For fans of "Antiques Roadshow" and "American Pickers" - this is the one for you!
Beginning at a cluttered flea market and ending at a glittering art auction, Georgia’s Folly tells the compelling story that blends past and present and the search for a valuable and illusive antique. Chloe Bishop grew up in foster care. She loves shopping at flea markets, picking up family heirlooms like old pottery or vintage furniture to fill in for the family and home she never had. As Chloe walks through the Brooklyn Flea Market, she stumbles upon the diary of Miss Georgia Potter, a young woman who had lived in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War. The yellowed pages reveal the impact of the war on daily life and spotlights the role of women including Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton and Louisa May Alcott. Like Chloe, Georgia Potter was a passionate collector and her diary lists her collection of valuable antiques—including the Holy Grail of 18th century furniture—a Chippendale settee. Well versed in antiques, Chloe is aware that There are only five known examples and a sixth settee would be worth more than $4 million.
Chloe immediately contacts Ben Thompson, the man who sold her the diary. Ben is a picker who drives his RV across America, searching for collectibles to sell to dealers. He is estranged from his wealthy, prominent family who cringe at his chosen career. Ben agrees to take her along to search for the valuable and iconic settee. As Ben and Chloe head to Gettysburg, they are unaware that Gregor Petrov, a shady antiques dealer and Harrison Kent, a respected but unscrupulous art expert are trailing them.
The search for the settee takes Chloe and Ben on fast paced journey from the Gettysburg battlefields to the 18th century street of artisans in Philadelphia to a historic mansion on the banks of the Hudson River. Traveling together in the small RV, Ben and Chloe draw closer. In the confines of the RV, embroiled in an unimaginable quest, Chloe confides that she is also in search for the father she never knew while Ben struggles to explain his complicated family to a woman who never had one.
In a thrilling ending, the rare Chippendale settee is not Chloe’s only valuable discovery.
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Georgia's Folly
Deborah Chase
grew up in a home filled with art and antiques. On the high end, my uncle William Lincer, lead violist at the New York Philharmonic, was an art lover whose collection was sold at Sotheby's. On the low end, my father, writer Allen Chase, took me to flea markets and estate sales. He sparked a lifelong fascination with tales of lost treasures that that ranged from plundered Egyptian tombs to wagonloads of art stolen by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was this love of history and antiques that inspired my first novel, Georgia's Folly.
I was a founding editor of the Berkeley Wellness Newsletter and author of 12 non-fiction books including The Medically Based No-Nonsense Beauty Book ( Alfred Knopf), Extend Your Life Diet ( Pocket Books), Fruit Acids for Fabulous Skin ( St Martin's Press), Every Bride is Beautiful(Morrow), and with my husband, Dr Neil Schachter co-author of Life and Breath Doubleday) and The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds and Flu( Harper).
I am a graduate from Bronx High School of Science and a winner of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. I graduated of New York University with a duel major in journalism and history.
A native New Yorker, I like to spend my weekends at an upstate home where a big kitchen and an endless supply of estate sales indulge my duel passions for cooking and collecting.
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