Once A Homecoming Queen is a darkly humorous novel about addiction and redemption, featuring a 75-year-old, Francine-Reynolds-Richelli-Freeman, whose extreme alcohol consumption leads to a bevy of problems including her latest-a fall that breaks her neck, leaving her daughter and those who care about her to help Francine make peace with her past and re-imagine her future.

Angry and resentful about how her life has turned out, Francine's humor leans to the dark side, but she's likeable and unforgettable-emotionally tender, loving and authentic with an unflinching personality. Think Phyllis Diller on Steroids. Having been a former drug and alcohol counselor, and as the adult child of an alcoholic, Joan wanted to write a uniquely entertaining story about senior addiction as it related to family dynamics and dysfunction.