T received a review copy of the book.

Who among us can say life has turned out as we had wanted or hoped? Especially from the dreamscape of high school? Once a Homecoming Queen examines the question through Francine Freeman, her family and friends. Rachel, Ida, Carlos – each one, and more, interesting and integral to the story.

This book, originally a screenplay, is well written, characters believable and relatable. Francine could be our mother, sister, aunt, or grandmother. She could be a family friend. Whoever Francine Freeman is, we know her.

‘Francine and Ida had been going to Chez Moi for decades. They knew the

menu by heart and the waitress by name. It still retained its old musty smell

after forty years in business. The furnishings hadn’t been changed in twenty

years. The brown leather sofas at the front entrance were falling apart. The

leather was peeling off the sides like skin from a dead animal. But the menu

was better than Applebee’s. More important were the bartender’s generous

shots of bourbon in their drinks.’


( )

When seventy-five-year-old Francine Reynolds-Richelli-Freeman falls a second time while dangerously drunk again, her adult daughter takes insists she go to rehab in Joan Moran’s Once a Homecoming Queen. Francine rebels. She loves to drink with her friend Ida and has no interest in getting sober until Ida, who promised she would never drive drunk, takes that risk, crashes her car, and dies. That hurts and angers Francine before it sobers her up. Group therapy and AA meetings help. So does Francine’s dark humor.

Like many alcoholics in the process of getting sober she goes through resistance, cravings, and plots to escape group therapy and the rehab system. Even so one day she discovers she likes the lack of hangovers, and when she’s released from treatment, she agrees to do some volunteer work at a local women’s prison to keep her mind off the cravings. Meanwhile her housemate, Carlos, has been taking care of her dog and maintaining the place she lived is straightening out his own life.

When the prison transfers her out of meetings and into the pharmacy, she meets Doc, who sees the worthwhile side of her and offers her a chance to go with him to the Calgary Stampede Rodeo, where he’ll relive his glory days. He knows she has liver disease, appreciates her redeeming qualities, and wants to care for her.

This is an honest, gritty look at what alcohol can cost an individual and her family, but it’s also a story of redemption. It’s well told, believable, and authentic. I feel for Francine and occasionally I wanted to ring her neck, but in the end, I applauded her. The book shows that it’s never too late to deal with your problems and find peace one day at a time. ( )