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Nikki hasn’t seen her grandmother in years. So when the elder calls out of the blue with an urgent request for Nikki to visit her in the hills of western North Carolina, Nikki hesitates only for a moment. After years of silence in her family, due to a mysterious estrangement between her mother and grandmother, she’s determined to learn the truth while she still can.
But instead of answers about the recent past, Mother Rita tells Nikki an incredible story of a kingdom on this very mountain, and of her great-great-great grandmother, Luella, who would become its queen.
It sounds like the makings of a fairy tale—royalty among a community of freed people. But the more Nikki learns about the Kingdom of the Happy Land, and the lives of those who dwelled in the ruins she discovers in the woods, the more she realizes how much of her identity and her family’s secrets are wrapped up in these hills. Because this land is their legacy, and it will be up to her to protect it before it, like so much else, is stolen away.
Inspired by true events, Happy Land is a transporting multi-generational novel about the stories that shape us and the dazzling courage it takes to dream.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 8, 2025 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593337738
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593337738
- File size: 3830 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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January 1, 2025
Award-winning and bestselling Perkins-Valdez (Take My Hand, an LJ Best Book) returns with another novel inspired by true events, this time about a woman who discovers her family's legacy as part of the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a self-sustaining community of formerly enslaved men and women who were ruled by a king and queen high in the mountains of the Carolinas before vanishing. Prepub Alert.
Copyright 2024 Library Journal
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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March 1, 2025
After years of no contact, Nikki is shocked when her estranged grandmother, Mother Rita, reaches out and asks her to visit immediately. Hoping she will get some answers about what initiated the rift in her family, Nikki travels to the mountains of western North Carolina, but once there, she learns that her grandmother has a different purpose in mind. Mother Rita is being threatened with eviction, and she hopes Nikki's knowledge as a real estate agent will help save her home. More than just a house, the land represents the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a community built by formerly enslaved people during the post-Civil War years. As Mother Rita shares the story of Nikki's great-great-grandmother Luella and her role in the Kingdom, it soon becomes clear how much is at stake. Inspired by real events, Perkins-Valdez (Take My Hand, 2022) once again blends truth and fiction to powerful effect, weaving together Luella, Mother Rita, and Nikki's stories to demonstrate the many ways the past impacts the present. Historical fiction fans and book clubs will appreciate this exploration of a little-known aspect of American history.COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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