Elizabeth Bass Parman grew up entranced by family stories, such as the time her grandmother woke to find Eleanor Roosevelt making breakfast in her kitchen. She HarperCollins UK - October 2024 Fiction worked for many years as a reading specialist for a non-profit, and spends her summers in a cottage by a Canadian lake. She has two grown daughters and lives outside her native Nashville with her husband and maybe-Maltipoo, Pippin.
<p>Get ready to laugh! Elizabeth Bass Parman is a true Southern storyteller. I</p><p>couldn’t have loved it more.” —Fannie Flagg, New York Times bestselling</p><p>Posey Jarvis knows she’s the rightful empress of Cooke County . . . She just</p><p>needs to make everyone else realize it too.</p><p>Thirty-eight-year-old Posey Jarvis is the self-appointed “empress” of rural Spark in</p><p>Cooke County, Tennessee. She spends her days following every word about her idol</p><p>and look-alike Jackie Kennedy, avoiding her stalwart husband Vern, and struggling to</p><p>control her newly defiant daughter Callie Jane—all while sneaking nips of gin. When</p><p>Posey unexpectedly inherits a derelict mansion from her quirky old aunt Milbrey, she</p><p>finagles her way into hosting her high school’s twentieth reunion there. She cares</p><p>nothing about seeing her classmates, but she cares deeply about seeing the love of her</p><p>life, a man who dumped her nineteen years ago. Possums are nesting in the parlor and</p><p>the stench of cat urine permeates the sunroom, but she must be ready for the big day,</p><p>even if she has to do the work herself.</p><p>Eighteen-year-old Callie Jane finds herself accidentally engaged and is panicking about</p><p>her fast-approaching wedding. She’s also had enough of her domineering mother. Even</p><p>though she loves her father, the idea of working at his emporium for the rest of her life</p><p>just makes her . . . so sad. She longs to escape from her mother, her job, her</p><p>upcoming wedding, and the creepy Peeping Tom terrorizing the town. She dreams of</p><p>leaving everything she’s ever known in her rearview mirror and starting over in</p><p>California. But when her life has been mapped out for her from birth, how can she</p><p>break free?</p><p>Set in a gossipy small town during the turbulent 1960s and full of Southern charm and</p><p>unforgettable characters, The Empress of Cooke County is a novel about found family,</p><p>what it means to be loved, and how being true to yourself can have life-altering</p><p>consequences.</p><p>1. Southern women’s fiction</p><p>2. Stand-alone novel</p><p>3. Book length: approximately 82,000 words</p><p>4. Includes discussion questions for book clubs</p>
