Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch

This debut women's fiction is 'a veritable goldmine of Southern homespun homilies and hospitality, where the Ya-Ya sisterhood would feel right at home' (Booklist).Southern housewife Linwood Breedlove Scott was happily content in her comfortable, complacent thirty-year marriage, but when her husband cleans out their bank accounts and runs off with a stripper, her life takes a hilarious, yet touching, right turn into reality. With no place to go but home, she's forced back to her insular hometown and the 'eccentric' family she escaped by marrying at nineteen: her senile father, her loving-yet-controlling mother, her long-suffering aunt, her crazy uncle, and her good-for-nothing brother. But despite her newly dependent situation and her family's genteel insanity, Lin begins to stand on her own two feet and wake up to the joys-and perils-of life as a single woman. And she also learns surprising lessons about her family: that things aren't always what they seem, and that the power of love governs even the most dysfunctional of relationships. This joy-filled, moving, and wise-cracking novel delivers a portrait of Southern life, Southern families, and self-discovery that readers will never forget.'Haywood Smith paints a portrait of lasting relationships between family and lifelong friends in the small-town South. Her colorful cast of characters is unforgettable.' -Southern Living'Snapshots of Southern living will charm even the hardest-hearted Yankee.' -Publishers Weekly'Hilariously on the mark . . . the perfect combination of wit and touching sentiment . . . [A] one-of-a-kind feel-good read.' -Romantic Times'A hilarious slice of life.' -Midwest Book Review