The Empress of Cooke County: What My Mother, a Doctor, and Pocahontas Have To Do With It All

By Elizabeth Parman

I had taken my mother to see her doctor and while we were waiting, we chatted about a story in our family that we are descendants of Pocahontas. My mother asked me if I knew Pocahontas was known as the Empress of Virginia. About that time Mom’s name was called, and I was left to ponder what a good book title The Empress of Virginia would make.

Although my mother’s family has its American origins in Virginia, our roots are firmly planted in Tennessee. My first thought was to change the title to The Empress of Tennessee, but our state boasts 95 counties, too big for me to write about. Then I wondered what would happen if there existed a woman who wanted to control all the happenings in the tiniest (and therefore most manageable) county in Tennessee. Fictional Cooke County became Tennessee’s 96th county, consisting only of the town of Spark and expansive tobacco farms.

I was unsure of the difference between an empress and a queen, so I looked up the distinction. An empress reigns over multiple countries, outranking in both power and notoriety a queen, who rules over a single country. As I read further about empresses, a colorful image on my phone screen caught my attention —the Empress tarot card. The Empress, I learned, is one of tarot’s most powerful figures. When pulled from the deck upright she represents characteristics such as abundance, generosity, and success. But if The Empress is upside down, or reversed, the opposite character attributes apply—a reversed Empress is stingy, self-centered, and destined for failure. 

In about ten minutes that I can best describe as magical, about 70 percent of the story came to me in that waiting room as images of a mother and daughter in constant conflict flooded my mind. The story had to be dual-POV, with each having the same number of chapters, to mirror the two equally powerful positions of The Empress. The daughter was The Empress upright, but she didn’t recognize her own abilities yet. The mother was The Empress reversed, and she tried to rule over others but was, in fact, powerless. They had personalities and goals that were at cross purposes, and the person who linked them, the mother’s husband and the daughter’s father, was caught in the middle. 

I don’t really remember searching for a time period in which to set the book. The 1960s were a part of this story before it was anything more than an idea that had grabbed hold of my imagination. The inherent conflict of the ’60s appealed to me as a writer, as that tension would be in the background of every scene I typed. The pop culture and music of that time have always fascinated me, and the Beatles were (and still are) my favorite band. When I recalled reading about the Beatles’ August 1966 concert in Memphis, Tennessee, the specific time period was settled. I could give the daughter not only my same enthusiasm for the greatest musical group of all time but also grant her something I long for but will never have—the chance to see them perform in person. 

As I studied the Empress tarot card, a clearer picture of my two main characters crystallized. Posey’s name pretty much sums her up. She is concerned only with appearances. She sees her actual life as mundane and chooses to solve that problem by focusing on achieving her grand dreams. If she ever made the effort to be honest with herself and understand what she’s been given, she would see the potential for a happy, albeit ordinary life, but this introspection never happens. She lives by the one life lesson her dysfunctional mother taught her—the truth is overrated.

 Callie Jane’s character was more complex to develop. I had once heard the name Callen, and jotted it in my notebook of random writer thoughts. Of Irish origin, Callen is associated with strength in battle, a rock, and a dove—quite an interesting mix. The gender neutrality of the name gave me something to play with that I can not reveal here without giving a spoiler, but suffice it to say she’s not the only Callen in the story. Because she is southern, a nickname was almost a given, as was having a double name, so Callie Jane was born. As I spent time in Callie Jane’s energy, I saw a young woman who longed for peace even as an emotional war was raging both in and around her. She had no notion of her power but grew stronger as the story, and her self-confidence, advanced. 

And so I had given myself a title, The Empress of Cooke County, a domineering mother, Posey. and a pacifist daughter, Callie Jane, and a town and time in which to place them, 1966 Spark, Tennessee. The Empress of Cooke County has been described as twisty, fluffy, not fluffy, laugh-out-loud funny, light-hearted, not light-hearted, poignant, and heartbreaking. All those elements are present at various points in the story because that’s how life is. 

 My next book is out in September of 2025, and it will be brimming with the fluffy, not fluffy, heartbreaking, funny, and poignant stories of more residents of Cooke County. 

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THE EMPRESS OF COOKE COUNTY

“Get ready to laugh! Elizabeth Bass Parman is a true Southern storyteller. I couldn’t have loved it more.” —Fannie Flagg, New York Times bestselling author

Posey Jarvis knows she’s the rightful empress of Cooke County . . . She just needs to make everyone else realize it too.

Thirty-eight-year-old Posey Jarvis is the self-appointed “empress” of rural Spark in Cooke County, Tennessee. She spends her days following every word about her idol and look-alike Jackie Kennedy, avoiding her stalwart husband Vern, and struggling to control her newly defiant daughter Callie Jane—all while sneaking nips of gin. When Posey unexpectedly inherits a derelict mansion from her quirky old aunt Milbrey, she finagles her way into hosting her high school’s twentieth reunion there. She cares nothing about seeing her classmates, but she cares deeply about seeing the love of her life, a man who dumped her nineteen years ago. Possums are nesting in the parlor and the stench of cat urine permeates the sunroom, but she must be ready for the big day, even if she has to do the work herself.

Eighteen-year-old Callie Jane finds herself accidentally engaged and is panicking about her fast-approaching wedding. She’s also had enough of her domineering mother. Even though she loves her father, the idea of working at his emporium for the rest of her life just makes her . . . so sad. She longs to escape from her mother, her job, her upcoming wedding, and the creepy Peeping Tom terrorizing the town. She dreams of leaving everything she’s ever known in her rearview mirror and starting over in California. But when her life has been mapped out for her from birth, how can she break free?

Set in a gossipy small town during the turbulent 1960s and full of Southern charm and unforgettable characters, The Empress of Cooke County is a novel about found family, what it means to be loved, and how being true to yourself can have life-altering consequences.

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Elizabeth is a native Nashvillian, who had the extraordinarily good fortune of having as an English teacher in middle school author Lee Smith. Lee told Elizabeth to always keep writing, which she has joyfully done.

She received her Bachelor’s degree in English literature from Hamilton College in upstate New York after spending a glorious Junior year in Canterbury, England, attending the University of Kent. She visited a dozen countries during her time there, much to the detriment of her GPA. As an Anglophile, one of the highlights of her travels was finding herself in a tiny museum in Wales, alone with Princess Diana’s wedding dress. 

After a year working in Manhattan, she returned to Nashville and married her high school sweetheart. They have now-grown identical twin daughters and a rescued maybe-Maltipoo, Pippin (named after the first play Elizabeth saw in New York). 

She holds a Master’s degree in education from Belmont University in Nashville, and recently retired from a non-profit, working with children and adults with reading-based learning disabilities such as dyslexia. 

Elizabeth is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and the Nashville Writers Alliance.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing