Thank you to Book Browse and Berkley Books for an advance readers copy of this book.
Based on a true story, "Happy Land" is a saga of strength, struggle, survival and success.
In the 1870's, after emancipation, Black citizens in South Carolina find themselves persecuted by
…more the Klan. Many of them leave, heading together for the mountains of North Carolina, to establish themselves on land where the community flourishes. However, while physically less vulnerable, they still must deal with economic and legal abuse, whose consequences continue to appear in the present.
Starting there, with the most recent descendants of this group, Happy Land returns to tell the 1870's saga of the family who led the move to their new life, and the ensuing efforts to grow and save the land they make their "Kingdom."
While the charismatic leader, William, originally led the way, it is the women in the family who persevere and who tell the story: Nikki, in the present, and Luella, 150 years before, at the Kingdom's beginning. In the first person, each woman speaks with a distinct voice, yet their conversational styles give well-defined voices to a variety of family members and neighbors.
The story is engrossing, the writing engaging, and the dialog draws the reader in so thoroughly, it takes a moment to return to one's own world. This would make an excellent book group choice. (less)
