In her 1998 hit single entitled “Believe,” Cher asks the question, “Do you believe in love after love?”
And, so does the epilogue of Robert Hitt Neill’s recently released nonfiction work entitled “The Book of Betsy: Forever 19,” for which a book signing will be hosted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Grounded Sister Coffee Shop, 825 S. Main St.
Neill would respond with a simple “yes” to Cher’s perpetual query about love after love.
He elucidates as much in what makes his 14th book ever written in his 30-plus year career, which recounts the real life love story of his 55-year marriage to his late wife, Betsy, “the most beautiful girl in the world.”
Neill shared, “I was grieving so after Betsy died suddenly the week of our 55th anniversary three years ago and I actively wanted to die and go be with her. I just quit eating and just resigned from the human race.”
Typically, Neill’s written works are rooted in humorous nostalgia and they vary from stories and articles to columns about the “Great Outdoors, country living, hunting and fishing, raising kids, praising God and enjoying life.”
“I did a weekly nationally syndicated newspaper column for 25 years and the DDT was one of my papers and I quit in 2013 to die of kidney cancer and I survived, but I didn’t pick the column back up,” he shared, adding he should have.
Nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, with one being by the then publisher of the Delta Democrat-Times, Ken Cazalas, Neill’s main motivator for writing “The Book of Betsy” was somewhat intrinsic.
“I’m accident prone,” he noted. “I’ve had over 25 broken bones, another dozen joint injuries, I’ve had six major concussions — I played football at Ole Miss back when we won the national championship, but I write stuff down a lot of times when things happen. I write it out and it’s just a catharsis for me.”
Living alone and secluded on his farm, Neill resolved to clear his head of the grief by writing and once he reached a stopping point, he sent a manuscript of what he had written to a few of his most trusted counterparts in the field.
Their feedback was rather aligned in that the manuscript was such a great love story that it warranted publishing.
Neill took his associates’ advice and before long, Christian Faith Publishing picked up his manuscript.
Betsy was everything to Neill, not just a beauty queen at Ole Miss, but a navy wife, Mistress of Brownspur Plantation, the mother of his three children and his partner in the world’s largest prison ministry.
His love for her ran deep and so did his grief.
However, he would find, through an unexpected lunch with Betsy’s Ole Miss sorority sister, roommate, and best friend — Cindy — there is love after love.
