FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Page & Palette, 32 S. Section St. in Fairhope, will welcome Panama City, Fla. author Olivia deBelle Byrd to the bookstore on Thursday. From 4-6 p.m., she will sign copies of her book “Miss Hildreth Wore Brown: Anecdotes of a Southern Belle.”

Byrd, a self-described Southern belle, has complied this collection of humorous essays that deal with everything, including parties where society ladies wear Christmas trees with blinking lights hanging from their ears.

She stressed that these stories all come from personal experiences.

“After I was telling one of my many stories for the umpteenth time, my long-suffering husband looked at me with glazed over eyes and said, ‘Why don’t you just write this stuff down?’ So I did.”

With comparisons to Fannie Flagg, Byrd offers up storytelling written in the finest Southern tradition. With wit and amusement, she delves into the world of the Deep South with all its unique idiosyncrasies and colloquialisms.

Essays in the collection include characters who dance across the page from Great-Aunt Lottie Mae, who is as “old-fashioned and opinionated as the day is long,” to Mrs. Brewton who calls everyone “dahling” whether they are darling or not, to Isabella with her passion for mint juleps and drama, both in equal measure.

The author will sign books purchased from Page & Palette.

For more information, call (251) 928-5295, or visit www.pageandpalette.com.