Settings & Atmosphere - Fiction, Women's Fiction, Family & Friendship - Fiction, Humorous Fiction

Waking Up in Dixie

Name: Waking Up in Dixie
Author: Haywood Smith
ISBN: 9780312614218

by Haywood Smith

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Overview

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Red Hat Club comes a hilarious story of marriage and love and second chances.

When Elizabeth Mooney escaped the shame of her “white trash” family to marry Howell Whittington, the crown prince of her small town, she never dreamed that thirty years later, she’d end up trapped in a loveless marriage to the cruel banker who’s foreclosing on all her friends. Then Howe has a stroke in church, and when he wakes up, he’s at the mercy of all his appetites and emotions, telling the truth with no filters. Transformed, Howe wants to be a real husband, which scares the socks off proper, repressed Elizabeth. Setting out to right past wrongs, Howe blackmails the town’s baddies into doing the right thing. The ensuing hilarious roller-coaster ride wakes up not only Elizabeth and their marriage but the whole town and its hidebound institutions. Haywood Smith’s sharp wit and keen observations about men, mothers-in-law, marriage, and small-town Southern living will having you laughing and reading long into the night.

About the Author, Haywood Smith

Haywood Smith is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of The Red Hat Club and The Red Hat Club Rides Again. She lives in Buford, Georgia. Please visit her at www.haywoodsmith.net.

Biography

Atlanta native Haywood Smith currently lives in Massachusetts. She has one son, currently in medical school who is "married to a wonderful, fearless Christian woman," and a close family that includes her mother, three sisters, and a brother.

The Red Hat Club was on the New York Times Bestseller List. The paperback edition of Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch appeared on both the USA Today list and the New York Times Extended Bestseller List.

Author biography courtesy of the author's official web site.

Good To Know

Some fun and fascinating outtakes from our interview with Smith:

"God already knows I wrote what I wrote, so I figured I might as well put my real name on my books. My Mama had to get used to the love scenes in my historical romances -- especially when I used bondage as a metaphor in the first one (very polite, consensual bondage; well, most of it)."

"I believe in taking lemons and making lemonade when life gets cruel. I've had joint problems since childhood, so I can only run if my life depends on it, but I now have a job I can do in a recliner. How great is that?"

"I haven't had plastic surgery, but I'm saving up to get lipo on my saddlebag hips and the tummy my sisters and I all have dubbed, ‘the baby.' I also believe that every woman out there should start putting money in a sugar bowl to ‘get the plumbing jerked' once she's finished having her kids. Life without periods is the best!"

"I am happier now without a significant man in my life than I was with one. Not that I'm down on men altogether. I just like my perfect girlie room, my white carpets, keeping my own hours and weird diets, and not having to worry about hiding my bite guard, surgical scars, white roots, and buzz saw snoring. Not to mention having the freedom to pass gas at will without criticism."

"I love hearing from readers who enjoyed my books. Such kind words make my day. I do not love hearing from people who can't handle the realistic nature or language in my work. Everything in my work is there for a reason. If a character cusses, she's been provoked (and it beats busting loose with an Uzi at the nineteenth hole of her ex's country club). If she takes the Lord's name in vain (like my fictional SuSu character) it's because she's subconsciously crying out to the God she's rejected."

"Mainly, I want the women in my books to accurately reflect the complexities, the heartache, and the humor that is our saving grace."

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"Smith’s zesty read-in-one-sitting romp promises to delight loyal fans and garner new ones."
--Booklist "Smith shakes up the midlife marriage renewal subgenre with the emotionally complex tale of Elizabeth Whittington.... Elizabeth's struggles feel real ... and the way Smith ... leaves Elizabeth to pursue or abandon her marriage on her own terms is a refreshing departure from convention."
--Publishers Weekly "...going to elicit both chuckles and tears."
--RT Book Reviews, 4 1/2 stars

Publishers Weekly

Smith shakes up the midlife marriage renewal subgenre with the emotionally complex tale of Elizabeth Whittington, who has accepted that her marriage to Howe Whittington, the wealthiest man in their small Georgia town, is a sham. Howe cheats, has grown hard over the years, and is less than present in their marriage, but after a stroke lands him in a coma, he wakes up, six months later, a changed man. Suddenly, he wants to work on repairing their marriage and helping others fix the problems in their lives. That, naturally, proves to be difficult, and Elizabeth, meanwhile, must decide if she can trust her husband while he tries to right some wrongs, and, in the process, reveals a trove of town secrets. That the story isn't a freewheeling comedy sets it apart from the pack; Elizabeth's struggles feel real (though Howe remains a little cartoonish), and the way Smith (The Red Hat Club) leaves Elizabeth to pursue or abandon her marriage on her own terms is a refreshing departure from convention. (Sept.)