For Jeff Barry, the phrase “Go to Hell Ole Miss” is not just about school rivalry. Though, he doesn’t tell everyone that before they buy his bestselling novel with that name.

“I’ve gotten to where I don’t usually tell the Mississippi State people that this isn’t an anti-Ole Miss book. I just let them buy their three books and move on,” Barry joked at an author signing at the Starkville Public Library on Thursday evening. “But Ole Miss people, I definitely do.”

While the title may help Barry with some readers, and hinder him with others, he said the phrase is not about hatred. It’s the phrase his father – who served as a bomber pilot in WWII – saw carved into the wall of a shed while being held as a prisoner of war in Germany. Seeing the fighting spirit of the prisoner before him, Barry said, gave his father hope to keep going.

“It really gave him a sense of humor,” Barry said. “Like, if this guy can have that kind of spirit, I can raise my chin a little bit more. And he would talk about how it helped him get through those 13 months. He was a prisoner for 13 months until the war ended.”

Years later, Barry’s father told him the story of his plane going down and parachuting into enemy territory before being captured. Even later, the same story worked its way into the fictional characters and plot of “Go to Hell Ole Miss.”

Barry is a Memphis native who has spent many years living and working in Mississippi. He tends to write what he knows, he said, as his novel draws from an amalgamation of people he has met, stories he has heard, and the cattle farm he lived on.

Even though there are similarities between real life and the novel – like the main character Big John having flashbacks to being a prisoner of war – it is not a war history book or even really a historical fiction novel, Barry said. Instead, it is focused on the love of a fictional family, and the lengths a father will go to to help his daughter.

“It’s set in Mississippi in Holly Springs in the 1970s,” Barry said. “It’s about a father’s love for his daughter, and his willingness to do almost anything to protect her from a man he had pressured her to marry.”

While Barry was writing the novel, he said he wanted it to focus on southern themes. But as the story progressed, he realized that they were themes everyone can relate to, and hopefully, connect with.

“My hope from the start was to write a book of substance with characters that become people and make you laugh, cry and think,” Barry said.

While Barry wrote privately for most of his life until starting a blog 15 years ago, the plot for his novel hit him while he was standing on a street corner in Holly Springs.

Once he had the idea, Barry spent the next few months writing a first draft. But it took eight years to get the book ready to publish, as Barry wrote and rewrote the book, often outdoors, in the spring and fall each year – getting feedback from editors in the summers.

“I just thought I could make it better, and by the end, I’d fallen in love with writing it,” Barry said.

“Go to Hell Ole Miss” came out in May, and became a Top 20 USA Today National Bestseller when it debuted.

Even though Barry has never actually been an Ole Miss hater, and his father actually met his mother while she was a co-ed at the university, the title of his book tends to make a strong first impression, he said. Many readers are only used to hearing the phrase in the context of the rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State sports teams.

For instance, he met a Mississippi State fan in Tupelo who bought a copy of the book, and then immediately showed him that the license plate on his car had the acronym “GTHOM” on it.

Barry said he receives emails from Ole Miss fans, expressing confusion – and sometimes frustration – at his chosen title. In those cases, he said, a quick email about his father’s story can usually change the fan’s mind.

SOCPLS Director Philip Carter said he first heard of “Go to Hell Ole Miss” while browsing through the Barnes and Noble in Tupelo. The title immediately caught his attention.

“As a Mississippi State fan, I took a picture immediately and sent it to my wife and said I need to get a copy,” Carter said.

The next day, Carter said, he opened his email to find a message waiting for him, asking if Barry could come to the library for an author talk.

Carter said he was excited to get to bring the author to town and share his story with local readers.

“It was an absolute pleasure hosting author Jeff Barry at the Starkville Public Library,” Carter said. “While his book, ‘Go to Hell Ole Miss,’ has an instantly controversial title here in Mississippi, it’s a wonderful tale of southern life and persistence.”