Happy Land

A 2026 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work ΓÇô Fiction A woman learns the incredible story of a real-life American KingdomΓÇöand her familyΓÇÖs ties to itΓÇöin this enthralling novel from the New York Times bestselling,NAACP Image Award-winning author of Take My Hand. As featured in The Washington Post ΓêÖ People ΓêÖ Harper’s Bazaar ΓêÖ NPR ΓêÖ TODAY ΓêÖ ELLE ΓêÖ PopSugar ΓêÖ Reader’s Digest ΓêÖ SheReads ΓêÖ WomanΓÇÖs World ΓêÖ Real Simple ΓêÖ BookBrowse ΓêÖ and more! Nikki hasnΓÇÖt 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 CarolinaNikki hesitates only for a moment. After years of silence in her familydue to a mysterious estrangement between her mother and grandmothersheΓÇÖs determined to learn the truth while she still can. But instead of answers about the recent pastMother Rita tells Nikki an incredible story of a kingdom on this very mountainand of her great-great-great grandmotherLuellawho would become its queen. It sounds like the makings of a fairy taleΓÇöroyalty among a community of freed people. But the more Nikki learns about the Kingdom of the Happy Landand the lives of those who dwelled in the ruins she discovers in the woodsthe more she realizes how much of her identity and her familyΓÇÖs secrets are wrapped up in these hills. Because this land is their legacyand it will be up to her to protect it before itlike so much elseis stolen away. Inspired by true eventsHappy Land is a transporting multi-generational novel about the stories that shape us and the dazzling courage it takes to dream.