Homesick: A Memoir

by Sela Ward

The vibrant and beloved star of Once and Again and Sisters offers a story about her journey home to recapture the magic of youth in the deep South for her children and to make peace with the death of her mother.

“This is the story of a girl who grew up in a gentle town in the Deep South, cradled by family and friends, worshiping Bear Bryant on Saturday night and Jesus Christ on Sunday morning…”

At a time when much of America is yearning to recapture the spirit and feelings of a more innocent era, comes this extraordinary memoir from one of our most beloved a story of reconnecting with the most important things in life.

Millions of TV and film viewers know Sela Ward as the Emmy-winning star of the series Sisters and Once & Again. But before she became a successful actress, Sela was first and foremost a small-town girl, the daughter of a family that lived for generations in a Mississippi homestead they called “Homeward.” It was there, within a tightly knit community of neighbors and kin, that Sela learned ways that would remain with her through life-humble virtues, like generosity, selflessness, and respect, that are “forged in the hearth of a loving home.” Now she has woven together nostalgic reminiscences, stories from throughout her life and career, and lessons on drawing strength and wisdom from a simpler place and time, to give us a very special book on the challenge of raising a family, maintaining perspective, and carving away time for happiness amid the challenges of modern life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Biography Memoir, Southern, Autobiography

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2002

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was about halfway through HOMESICK I thought that it wasn't a great memoir....Ward covers most different areas of her life with about two-three pages, and I kept thinking "I want to hear MORE about Alabama, about her involvement with Chi Omega, about her celebrity relationships and why they failed" and I thought it wasn't a great book. Then I realized that the book isn't intended to be an all-encompassing memoir of Ward's life, but rather is a focused piece about her love affair with the South and her family - and what a story it is! As a misplaced Southerner I completely identified with Ward's observations, and her laments that growing up just isn't what it used to be.

The books charms don't stop there. Much attention is given to the illness and death of Ward's mother, and it so closely mirrors my own experiences with the family gathering round for the final days that I was in tears for the last forty pages of the book, including a lovely poem about death. Suffice to say, I'll be looking for my own copy to add to my library.

[Paige Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this lovely book that was NOT a celebrity tell-all but simply a love letter to Ms. Ward's southern roots. Quick, soothing read.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I already liked Sela as an actress before I read her book, but now I like her even more for her honesty and willingness to reveal herself in this wonderful memoir. She bares her feelings and thoughts throughout these pages. She’s a kind and warm woman with a great sense of what falily means. She talks about her family ties, their strugles, achievements, and what being a member of the Ward family is like.

In this fast paced and competitive world not everyone stays close to their family and home or even care who their extended family is. While I read her book I couldn’t help to feel nostalgic about my own childhood and family members long gone. I could also totally relate to her own experience of loosing her mom and the importance of being present while she took her last breath and depart at last after an agonizing death.

I was also pleased to learn that she puts her celebrity status to good use and invests time and money in helping out orphan kids. I enjoyed reading about her human and caring side. It was a pleasant and entertaining read.

[Cyndee Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sela Ward is happy with her Southern roots. Her memoir spans more than just the growing up years. If you like her work as an actress on screen;chances are you will enjoy this book.I liked her College years and the fact that she goes home to connect with her homeland.
Cyndee Thomas

[Kay Hommedieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I have enjoyed Sela Ward as an actress, especially on the TV Series "Sisters" and "Once and Again", I thought that I would enjoy finding out more about her life. That I did and the book was chock full of photos from her childhood and her days as a college cheerleader at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

But the book isn't only about her career. It is also how she is from Meridian, Mississippi and how she yearned for her southern community after she moved away to the big cities of New York and Los Angeles. She visited home often and thought about the ways she could make a home there in Meridian.

When she married Howard Sherman in 1992, they soon started building a home on the land that they bought after her dad knew of her wishes. So even though she and her husband live in Los Angeles and raise their two children there, it is Meridian where they come several times a year to vacation.

Even though the title is "Homesick" (for her southern roots) she has found a way to incorporate her love of her home community and extended family to her own husband and children.

[Annie Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like being in Mississippi for real. Sela Ward is as good a storyteller as she is an actress.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another celebrity autobiography which piqued my interest as I've seen Sela Ward act over the years.

The book talks mainly of her life down South and how she grew to love it for its traditions and family values and how she longed for it while in LA.

A good portion of the last part of the book talks of the time when her mother passed away...right after the tragedy of 9/11 so Sela takes the readers through her reactions and sadness after both major events in her life.

No this is not a tell-all book....just a good read on a famous star who did not let the fame and fortune of Hollywood ever to her.

[Owen]

Admittedly, my interest in reading this book centered around my relations to Sela Ward, so I enjoyed learning more about her and her background. Particularly liked the stories about her family-members, growing up in Mississippi, and places there I have visited many times. I also found the general story of her transition from small-town MS to an LA actress and balancing the different parts of her personality reflected in each location to be of interest.

[Sheena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually bought this on a disastrous trip to Mississippi several years ago. I loved all her stories about growing up in the south. She seems like a genuinely nice person and has tried to remain true to her roots. She makes getting into acting sound so simple and easy. As with all autobiographies I have a feeling that much was left unsaid or glossed over. Well worth reading if you love the South.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved Sela Ward's acting & when I found out she had written her memoirs, I had to read this.

This is all about Sela's growing up in Mississippi. It details her love of the South & how she has passed that love onto her children. She does delve into her working years in Hollywood, as well.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Ward's remembrances of growing up in Mississippi and the values taught to her by her family resonate with me. Her compassion for children lead her to open Hope Village for Children. This is a celebrity memoir worth reading if one wants to understand the culture of Mississippians and of the South.

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reflections on what the South means to one who grew up there and moved away. You still get the idea Sela is looking for something more foundational though much of what she says rings true to Southern ears.

[Twila Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit hard to follow at times, but I loved the cadence and sense of this book. Sela is an actor in some of my favorite TV shows over the years, and her voice was ringing in my ears as I read it. Lovely sentiments here.

[Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sela Ward's memoir brought back a lot of Southern childhood memories for me. A real pleasure to read.

[Mediaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very low-key and unrevealing memoir from a wonderful actress. The most interesting aspect is how a shy, quiet, southern-drawl-speaking small-town girl with no interest in performing transformed into a confident television star with deep rich tones.

But that small section does not a book make, and the rest of the short autobiography is devoted to her love of the Mississippi community she grew up in, her functioning family, and her supposedly ideal marriage. It all sounds perfect and wonderful, and it's great that she is one of the few celebrities to claim to have never taken drugs, but there is almost nothing worthy of a memoir.

The first hundred pages about her upbringing and college life are dull. There is only a quick aside to acknowledge the horrible injustices done in her hometown, where they killed those that stood up for racial equality. Once she moves to New York City and stumbles into modeling (which leads to acting in Hollywood) Ward skips over bunches of years at a time. Before you know it, she gets a job by simply sitting next to someone on a plane, never understanding that her sexual attractiveness got her the first work. Want to know about the two very well-known actors she was in a relationship with for three-years each? You won't get more than a paragraph or two about the unnamed men.

Meanwhile there is plenty about her wise father, a long section about her mother's long death, some vague spirituality thrown in (she is Christian and married a Jew), and plenty of mentions about her amazing siblings and friends. This college cheerleader never really left the football field.

We learn a bit more about her non-industry husband who is a well-off "private investor," but Sela breezes through the brief mentions of her TV shows. There is so little about Hollywood that it becomes obvious the author doesn't want to share with us all the real ups and downs of her career or private life.

Inside the back cover you discover the book is a fundraiser for the place she started for homeless children, and while that's admirable it's all a bit to perfect and rosy. No wonder she named the home she built on farmland in her hometown "The Rose Cottage." It appears the only thing Sela Ward wants to reveal to us is her love of her Mississippi community. She truly is homesick.

[Carmen Shea Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow I missed reading this memoir by the Emmy-winning actress who was a cheerleader and homecoming queen at my alma mater. When this was published in 2002, Sela Ward was 46 and had just experienced what she described as the darkest time of her life: the Sept.11 terrorist attacks, the long-term illness and subsequent passing of her mother, and the cancellation of her series "Once and Again," which she said allowed her to do the finest acting of her career. This led her to re-evaluate what was really important in her life and, with her husband and two young children, start making trips back to her hometown of Meridian, Miss., more often. She suddenly found herself homesick for what most of us from the South can relate to--good home cooking, Southern hospitality and politeness, and sharing funny stories on the front porch about crazy aunts. She discusses the difference between "Southern manners" and what is acceptable in other parts of the country and having to learn to downplay her Southern accent to get better roles.

If you can relate to that feeling of knowing you can't go home again, but you want to find ways to bring it with you, then you will really enjoy this book. You will laugh, maybe cry, and if you're not from the South, you will definitely learn a lot about it.

[Huleeta Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This insight into the life of Seal Ward is so special because I, too l, too,am from Mississippi and understand where she comes from and what her roots mean to her. There is no place like home and family, especially if you're from Mississippi!! Thanks for writing such an amazing look into your life and expressing how us Southerners feel.

I hope many people from other parts of the country now have a better understanding of the way we think and feel. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with all of us.

[April Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is well written; however, I was disappointed to discover just how little of her years in acting she mentioned. She starts off telling of her family's beginnings in Mississippi, growing up and then heading off to college. She briefly details the start of her modeling career that came before her acting career. She goes back to detailing times spent at the Mississippi home she and her husband built. Overall this was a book I had difficulty maintaining an interest in reading.

[Brandon Ulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve wanted to read this forever, as a big fan of hers due to Once and Again. I’ve owned the book for years but in the last year have discovered just how much I love audiobooks, especially if they’re memoirs read by their authors. I learned it’s only available on cassette, so tracked down a copy AND a brand new cassette player. Even after all that, it lived up to the hype. Warm, grounded, and soothing, it’s an intimate look at Ward’s life and beliefs.

[Juan Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[William Howle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, growing up in the South, I can relate to what she is writing about. Manners is something that never goes out of style. I find in my travels most people in the South practice good manners unless the have a Northern accent.

[Linda Drozd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Sela Ward's acting...esp in Sisters as Teddy. This book was disappointing. Enjoyed the pictures & few family stories but otherwise pretty boring.

[Jacqueline King · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was interesting to read about Sela Ward's life. She is a phenomenal actress and her account of her early struggles show that the life of an actress is not as easy as it seems

[Dave Goldman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little Southern charm

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opening up the pages of this book I wasn't sure what I would discover about Sela Ward. I found it inspirational to experience her life through her eyes as she learned who she would become. She didn't set out to be famous or an actress. She only knew she wanted to be somebody and she ended up being that to so many people. It's not only fans of her television series but those people around her whom she is able to charm. In one part of her novel she says that a fan had trouble associating that she was not the character she portrayed 'Teddy' from "Sisters" and said 'Wow, I cannot believe you painted slut on your sister's car.' The book opens your eyes as a fan. In this memoir, you discover who Sela is as a person outside her roles as an actress. A woman who has endured obstacles as we all have in many various ways. Sela Ward knows who she is, what she wants, and what is important to her. I admire that! She is much more than the women she portrays on television and movies. She cares about her family, relationships, and people in general. She believes in good manners, kindness, and hope. This was exactly the book I needed to read right now. A good taste of southern hospitality.

[BMR, LCSW · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a HUUUUGE fan of Sisters and, of course, Sela Ward's "Teddy" was the breakout character. This memoir fill in what happened before she moved out of her beloved Meridian MS and lost her accent, and after her prime time series days were over.

How a baby boomer can talk about her "idyllic" childhood in Mississippi during Jim Crow and say very little about race (save for a few paragraphs) was beyond shocking to me. She went to college at Bama and had the best time ever on Sorority Row (which was and still is Whites Only). Then again, in The South, one doesn't speak of unpleasantries (a big point made in the book).

Maybe the book was just what she wanted it to be, published shortly after 9/11/01 and the death of her beloved Mama a few months later. I clearly wanted too much.

[Virginia Branch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really resonated with me as our childhood and upbringing are very similar. As a fellow homesick Mississippian, she put into words what I feel about my hometown. I had the opportunity to meet her this past winter at a social event in the delta but I didn't want to bother her so the opportunity was lost. I'm sure she wouldn't have minded - oh well...

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A memoir by one of my favorite actors. It was interesting to read about her life and how she ended up in Hollywood. Like many people, she has to choose between her childhood home and family and her adult life and work. Luckily, she can do it more easily than most as money doesn't hold her back. I love and admire her character and morals.

[Madeline Barthelme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missing Her Southern Roots

I have been a fan of Sela Ward since her SISTERS days.

I found this biography to be very sketchy; a bit difficult to follow in some places.

The best part for me was her stories of her family and growing up down South. The last section of her story finally connected and I was happy I continued reading it to the end.

[Pammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a page-turner but mildly interesting. The actress writes about her childhood in Meridian, Mississippi. Her feelings of displacement as a southerner in LA led her to build a house near Meridian so her children could share some of the experiences she cherishes about her own childhood.