The historic Martin Mansion, owned by the Woman's Club of Norfolk since 1924, is facing neglect and bankruptcy after a century of hosting teas, cocktail parties, wedding receptions, college lectures, bridge tournaments, and charity drives. And the club itself has shrunk significantly, almost to extinction. Located in a unique semi-circle neighborhood called The Hague, the Martin Mansion is known as "The Woman's Club" and watches itself intertwined in the histories of the Woman's Club of Norfolk, the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), the city of Norfolk, and America for the past 115 years.
The author narrates her fifty years at The Woman's Club such as participating in elementary school skits, Christmas caroling, and science fairs in the mansion's auditorium and then attending cocktail parties and Thanksgiving gatherings on its fancy first floor.
The small group of women fights to revitalize the Martin Mansion and the Woman's Club of Norfolk, prompting the author to explore their incredible histories under the same roof and surrounded by a unique neighborhood in a coastal city established in 1682.
