Flowers at Her Feet — Jeanne Irelan

Recently arrived from her home town where she had been hibernating as head librarian for the last three years, Tessa Claiborne begins a new segment of her life. She has recently inherited a rambling Victorian house in a historic district of Nashville, called Foxhill. Her life at the age of twenty-seven seems dreary, and she is emotionally drained, still trying to make sense of a broken engagement and with no plans for the future. Flowers at Her Feet chronicles the good that can come with faith when life seems on the surface to be particularly bleak or even dangerous, as Tessa eventually discovers. Tessa's first impression of the neighborhood is that it has so much character the houses themselves seem to be “the real residents.” Being a pastor's daughter, she's not unaccustomed to meeting people, but she is now a landlady with four distinctly different and interesting renters. One of them, Frank Wenger, becomes increasingly important to her with his disarming style and steady support during her various trials. Tessa becomes the rescuer of a young black boy from the nearby projects, and thus she sets in motion a situation that will prove both challenging and fearful for all concerned. It will take a tornado, a horrifying discovery next door, the goodwill of her neighbors, not to mention a helpful police detective and the ever-present Frank to change Tessa's life when she finally becomes aware of the flowers at her feet, or the blessings she had at first overlooked.