FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Author Beth Hoffman will be at Page & Palette on March 4, from 6-8 p.m., to sign copies of her debut novel, “Saving Cece Honeycutt.”

“Steel Magnolias” meets “The Help” in this Southern novel sparkling with humor, heart and feminine wisdom. In “Saving Cece Honeycutt,” Hoffman recounts 12-year-old Cecelia Rose Honeycutt’s recovery from a childhood with her crazy mother, Camille, and cantankerous father, Carl, in 1960s Willoughby, Ohio.

After former Southern beauty queen Camille is struck and killed by an ice cream truck, Carl hands over Cecelia to her great-aunt Tootie. Whisked off to a life of privilege in Savannah, Ga., Cecelia makes fast friends with Tootie’s cook, Oletta, and the cadre of eccentric women who flit in and out of her house, among them racist town gossip Violene Hobbs and worldly, duplicitous Thelma Rae Goodpepper.

Aunt Tootie herself is the epitome of goodness, and Oletta is a sage black woman. Unfortunately, any hint of trouble is nipped in the bud before it can provide narrative tension, and Hoffman toys with, but doesn’t develop, the idea that Cecelia could inherit her mother’s mental problems.

Madness, neglect, racism and snobbery slink in the background, but Hoffman remains locked on the sugary promise of a new day.

Hoffman was the president and owner of a major design studio in Cincinnati, Ohio. She sold her business to pursue writing full time.

She lives in Newport, Kent. with her husband and two very smart cats, in a beautiful historic home that she completely renovated.

For more information, call (251) 928-5295.