About this Event
The Supreme's at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat is a book about FRIENDSHIP filled with warmth and unforgettable humor telling the story of three remarkably resilient women: Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean.
Moving back and forth between past and present, the novel orbits around Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat diner, the first black-owned business in Plainview, Indiana. Clarice, Odette, and Barbara Jean (dubbed the Supremes by their friends) gather at the diner every Sunday to gossip, to hear the latest news of each other’s lives, and to comment on the town’s more eccentric characters, such as the consistently errant fortune-teller Minnie, Clarice’s ridiculously self-important cousin Veronica, and Veronica’s donut-addicted daughter Sharon. Earl watches over the Supremes from high school onward, and his diner represents community for these women, a meeting place that holds their lives together and offers solace, good humor, and support when it is most needed.
As the narrative weaves from past to present and more of the friends’ histories are revealed, the lives of Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean take on greater complexity. Their stories are filled with hard choices and dramatic incident. Clarice gave up a promising career as a concert pianist to marry former football star and charming womanizer Richmond, whose infidelities grow more brazen every day. Barbara Jean struggles with alcohol after the death of her husband, Lester. That death has reopened the wound she suffered when her son, Adam, was killed—run down by the racist brother of a white man she had loved long ago, and still loves. And what Odette thinks are lingering symptoms of menopause turn out to be not hot flashes but a more life-threatening disease. Fearless in her life, she now must face the very real prospect of crossing over to the realm of ghosts that her mother inhabits.
Location is TBD, but hopefully somewhere outside. Feel free to shout out a suggestion or offer to host!
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
TBD, Unknown Address, Chicago, United States
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