Margaret Hunter Bridges, a "lapsed Southern bell," climbs the roof of her neighbor's and lifelong friend's, Ida Matthews, house to survey not only her neighborhood and the skyline of Atlanta, but also her life. All her life she has abided by the rules and strictures of Southern(Atlanta) society, following her mother's belief that 'If something unpleasant is happening, pretend not to notice." However, one day the unpleasant becomes too personal not to notice and with a single act of accidental tragedy, her lfe and that of her family begins to self-destruct and fall apart. Despite tragedy worse than many ever experience, Margaret finds her way out of the past and into a new future with the help of her friends, an ancient yardman, and her son. And it's not all tragedy either, because just as in real life, there is comedy along the way if we can find it to laugh at. The author turns a satirical, if congenial eye on the stereotypical Southern bell while at the same time revealing that most Southern women have escaped that role and are off to new heights and strengths that Southern women have always possessed, repressed or not.

Marilyn Dorn Staats's voice, spoken through Margaret Hunter Bridges in 'Looking for Atlanta,' is not merely that of a lapsed southern belle. Its aching and wrenching observations could just as easily have come from a Tennessee Williams's Laura or Blanche Du Bois. As she lives through the the death of her daughter and the ensuing end of her marriage, we watch Margaret grow from a mass of quivering nerves to a woman whose strength rivals Scarlett O'Hara's in surviving the Battle of Atlanta. Though she speaks the language of the ladies who lunch and attend garden club, what we hear is the voice of a woman who delves deep to find the courage and wisdom she nees to live. She is caught on the cusp of women's liberation -- too old to be a feminist and too young not to be. 'Looking For Atlanta' is about one woman's journey from the shelter of her polite and corseted upbringing to the realities of the world she lives in. We readers are lucky she lets us tag along. Way to go, Margaret!