The Buzz
people are talking about Save My Place
"Save My Place is a rare find, the kind of inspirational, old-fashioned novel you can't wait to recommend to your friends. Gracefully, tenderly, Olivia deBelle Byrd has penned an uplifting story of love, loss, and the courage to carry on despite the inevitable heartbreaks life brings our way."
--Cassandra King, author of The Same Sweet Girls Guide to Life
"With her popular book of essays, Miss Hildreth Wore Brown—Anecdotes of a Southern Belle, Olivia deBelle Byrd pulled at the funny bone of a multitude of readers. Now with her wonderful debut novel, Save My Place, she successfully pulls at the heartstrings. In a moving and grounded narrative voice, Byrd paints a portrait of new love, family secrets, unspeakable loss, treasured childhood memories, and redemption—all set against the backdrop of a changing world during the Vietnam War. Save My Place is as bright and uplifting as the Florida sun where the novel's protagonist, Elisabeth, retreats to mend the broken pieces of her life. It is not to be missed."
--Michael Morris, author of Man in the Blue Moon
"Olivia deBelle Byrd is one of my favorite Southern writers—elegant, witty, and wise. In Save My Place, she employs all of those gifts to craft an epic love story that's sure to fire the imaginations and passions of her readers. This is a tremendously moving tale of romance, faith, and patriotism—and a great reminder of all that's true and lasting in life."
--Robert Leleux, Editorial Director Domino Magazine and author of The Memoirs of A Beautiful Boy and
The Living End: A Memoir of Forgiving and Forgetting
"The first thing I liked about Save My Place is the author's name: Olivia deBelle Byrd. If you can't make it as a writer in the South with a name like that, well, you're not really trying, are you? Save My Place is a charming read for almost anyone—young adult to senility. I'd be comfortable placing it in my Episcopal church library! It's a sweet love story about ordinary Southerners, Elisabeth and Kincaid—I promise you they are quite authentic characters—facing war and personal tragedy with fortitude and grace. And if you have a fondness for love letters like I do, this novel offers some gems—the best pages of the book, I think. Kincaid may have the most romantic theory about anniversary flowers I've ever heard in my life. I'm glad I spent some time with these pages."
--Melinda Rainey Thompson, author of SWAG: Southern Women Aging Gracefully
"Olivia deBelle Byrd is every bit as clever and utterly delightful as her writing suggests. Save My Place is a stirring story about hard times and lasting love and the God who never leaves us."
--Karen Spears Zacharias, author of Mother of Rain
for Miss Hildreth Wore Brown...
The Praise
“Olivia deBelle Byrd follows in the footsteps of Southern humorists Fanny Flagg and Bailey White to create a delightful book of personal essays dedicated to delving into the mysteries of the modern Southern Belle—a woman no longer lost in coy mincing, but straight talking, cheap, and spunky enough to reject overpriced coffee and Victoria’s Secret. With a dry wit worthy of Dorothy Parker, Byrd muses on everything from the state of our Christmas sweaters to the great assumption of Southern life—our mamas were crazy, so it isn’t a great surprise we get a little sideways. Miss Hildreth Wore Brown is a great gift book, a great take-to-the-hospital book; possibly even a great take-to-the-viewing book to give the bereaved a laugh while they loll around the funeral home. A must-have for anyone with a taste for the absurd and a sweet tooth for all things Southern.”
—JANIS OWENS, author of My Brother Michael
“With Miss Hildreth Wore Brown, Olivia deBelle Byrd proves that she is the real thing—an authentic Southern Belle with stories galore. I can’t wait to give this hilarious and heartwarming book to all my sweet friends.”
—CASSANDRA KING, author of The Same Sweet Girls
“Olivia deBelle Byrd is a wonderful writer if you happen to enjoy wit, talent, charm, and good looks. Anyone who has ever cracked a grin at the works of Nora Ephron or Fannie Flagg owes it to herself to read Miss Hildreth Wore Brown, which is the warmest, wisest, funniest book I’ve read in a month of Sundays. It’s like lunch with your wittiest friends—full of heart, love, and juicy gossip. It contains so many hilarious lines I can’t wait to dine out and pretend I was clever enough to come up with them myself!”
--Robert Leleux, Editorial Director Domino Magazine and author of The Memoirs of A Beautiful Boy and
The Living End: A Memoir of Forgiving and Forgetting
“As a fifth generation Southerner, I thought I knew all there was to know about Southern culture. However, Olivia deBelle Byrd has taught me a thing or two. Miss Hildreth Wore Brown covers everything from Sunday church, beauty pageants and Northern exposure with humorous insight. This is one that you’ll want to savor with a mint julep!”
—MICHAEL MORRIS, author of Man In The Blue Moon
“I’m warning you, this book will knock you to the floor quicker than Holy Ghost wine—you won’t know what hit ‘cha, but you won’t be able to stop laughing. (One more thing—but promise not to say nothing—I think it’s pitiful the way Olivia carries on about her husband Tommy in the pages of this book. That poor man—I heard Tommy’s so upset he’s threatening to run off with Benny Hinn’s ex-wife.)”
—KAREN SPEARS ZACHARIAS, author of Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?
(‘Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV)
“Miss Hildreth Wore Brown is the perfect guide to becoming a good Southerner for those not inclined to be nice. We have long known that a Southern woman can say anything about anyone and be excused if they finish it with: Bless her heart !”
—RON HART, syndicated Southern humorist and author of
No Such Thing as a Pretty Good Alligator Wrestler
“Although my own deep Southern roots go back to more sharecroppers than characters like Olivia deBelle Byrd’s Miss Hildreth (whom Huck Finn would have identified as one of “the Aristocracy”), I nodded often in recognition of my own experience and laughed out loud many times as I savored Byrd’s down-home stories. Pour yourself a glass of iced tea, turn off your cell phone, and settle in for a delightful read.”
—GLORIA PIPKIN, great-granddaughter of a Civil War widow,
longtime former teacher, author, and editor
