Colonel Carter of Cartersville

The opening of this novel pulls you into the narrow, lantern‑lit tunnel that leads to Colonel Carter’s old‑fashioned two‑story home on Bedford Place. Inside the cramped, winding passage you meet Chad, the ever‑loyal servant whose larger‑than‑life stories keep the neighborhood talking, and the colonel himself, a man of grand ambitions and equally grand hospitality. The narrator is summoned by a casual note promising dinner, a new railroad scheme, and a handful of quirky requests that reveal a world where generosity is measured in borrowed napkins and the clang of a well‑used corkscrew.

In the first act the house becomes a stage for characters from polite ladies to nervous men, each circling the colonel’s charismatic presence. Through witty dialogue and vivid description, the story sketches a community bound by honor, humor, and the promise of an upcoming council of war that could reshape their lives. Listeners will be drawn into the clatter of the kitchen, the echo of the clock tower, and the subtle tensions that hint at larger events to come.