Book review: "The Sweet Potato Queens’ 1st Big-Ass Novel"

"The Sweet Potato Queens’ 1st Big-Ass Novel." By Jill Conner Browne with Karin Gillespie. Simon & Schuster.

Jill Conner Browne’s series of books might seem to some to be already fictional, what with titles like The Sweet Potato Queens’ Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide and The Sweet Potato Queens’ Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner).

However, her wild tales, however funny and embellished they may be, are not, technically, fiction, according to Browne. At the urging of her agent, she decided to attempt a novel and hauled along author Karin Gillespie of the Bottom Dollar Girls series (Bet Your Bottom Dollar, A Dollar Short and Dollar Daze) for the ride.

The tale that ensues is a mythical imagining of how the Sweet Potato Queens came to exist. In real life, Browne created the Queens 25 years ago for a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Jackson, Miss., her hometown. In the novel, the Queens (which include four queenly gals and one queeny man), form the group in high school in the 1960s.

The main character, aptly named Jill, has a life that unfolds in a manner not dissimilar from her author. Still, enough differences remain that no one will assume Browne is unburdening her autobiographical secrets, especially as the true stories have already been told in her previous books.

The Sweet Potato Queens’ 1st Big-Ass Novel traces the course of the five friends’ love affairs, joys and turmoil over the ensuing decades. As one might imagine, their lives are affected by the political and cultural changes that happen in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s — civil rights, feminism, gay pride, the AIDS epidemic. But all these changes play second fiddle to the true core of friendship — gossip, petty squabbles and lots of food. (And yes, recipes are included!)

While the book is aimed towards readers of Browne’s other books and her Million-Queen Nation (and world), it still has the light, sweet-as-molasses tone that will please fans of Mary Kay Andrews, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, or other books of that ilk.

The Sweet Potato Queens’ 1st Big-Ass Novel may not be as funny as Browne’s other works — truth is stranger than fiction, I suppose — but it will definitely brighten up any gloomy February day.