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September/October 2022 FROM THE STACKS
Patsy’s drama in Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen begins and ends in the infirmary at the “W”; but the unfolding story between the first and last chapters flows from interviews conducted by author Julie Hines Mabus with her friend Patsy. The interviews capture the first twenty-one years of a beautiful, but lonely girl from Memphis, Tennessee, who dreams of becoming Miss America. Raised by a troubled single mother, Patsy grows up a survivor of childhood trauma while experiencing the stress of navigating life in a South that is radically changing. Through a close friendship with guitarist Steve Cropper, Patsy spends hours at Stax Records where she hears musical legends like Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Isaac Hayes record several of their biggest hits. The music of the late 1960s Memphis Sound helps set the backdrop for the changes facing the South and the shift in the traditions that are so deeply embedded in its culture, and these strains also add an interesting bit of history to Patsy’s personal story. Into the saga of Patsy’s life, Mabus effectively incorporates the struggle for civil rights, escalating war in Vietnam, assassinations of John F. Kennedy and then Martin Luther King, Jr., the lure of valium, and readily available birth control pills along with Coca Cola and Aquanet hairspray; and in doing so, Mabus portrays a different world from Mayberry and the Andy Griffith Show many of us remember from the 1960s. One of the most significant social changes directly impacting Patsy is the changing roles of women in conflict with the traditional view of femininity and the ideal of the perfect southern belle. Anything more about Patsy’s life leading to her stay in the infirmary would need spoiler alerts. Honestly, at first, I was not excited about reading this book. I enjoy reading a wide variety of genres, but a book about a would-be southern beauty queen did not appeal to me. However, once I started reading Patsy’s story, I was fascinated by a time in history that is just outside the edges of my memory. The snippet of Patsy’s life that is recounted in the book intertwines so perfectly with the 1960s southern world and its changes and challenges as they overshadow the life of a 21-year-old beauty queen from Memphis. BOOK REVIEW BY Beth Richard I enjoyed reading Patsy’s story, and I am also excited to hear from the book’s author, Julie Hines Mabus, who will be one of the outstanding featured speakers at the 34th Annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration the weekend of February 23-24, 2023. Beth Richard is Director of Library Services at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Natchez Campus. We first meet Patsy Channing in 1968 as she sits in the infirmary at Mississippi State College for Women, known today as the “W.” Healthy and clueless, Patsy is kept in the college’s infirmary for eight days without any visitors or any explanations about why she must stay there away from her classes and final exams before graduation. The mystery is revealed to us only as Patsy’s incredible true story unfolds through the remainder of the book.

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