cover image Happy Land

Happy Land

Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Berkley, $29 (384p) ISBN 978-0-593-33772-1

Perkins-Valdez (Take My Hand) shines in this exquisite tale of a woman who learns about her Black family’s trailblazing history from her estranged grandmother. Nikki Lovejoy-Berry, a real estate agent in Washington, D.C., grew up without ever visiting her mother’s hometown in North Carolina, or knowing why her mom remains estranged from her grandmother, Mother Rita. So when Mother Rita mysteriously summons Nikki to the mountain town of Zirconia, N.C., where Nikki’s mom grew up, she’s intrigued. It turns out Mother Rita is terminally ill and needs help fighting a developer who’s trying to force her off her land. As Nikki attends court dates and provides her grandmother with advice, she learns about her ancestors, who established the area as the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a self-sufficient community for formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. In a parallel narrative, the reader learns about Nikki’s ancestor Luella, who became the community’s queen after migrating there from South Carolina. It’s a beautifully rendered depiction of a lost world, one that gains even more power as Nikki comes to terms with the struggles her ancestors faced and the truth about her family’s recent discord. Readers will be deeply satisfied. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Susanna Lea Assoc. (Apr.)