''Exactly the novel we need right here, right now'' TAYARI JONES

''Astonishing'' JODI PICOULT

''Exhilarating'' CHARMAINE WILKERSON

A woman learns the astonishing truth of her family''s ties to a vanished American Kingdom in this riveting new novel from the bestselling and award-winning author of Take My Hand

Nikki Berry hasn''t seen her grandmother Rita in years. When she calls out of the blue asking Nikki to visit her urgently in the hills of North Carolina, Nikki hesitates only for a moment. Her mother and grandmother have long been estranged, and after years of silence in her family, Nikki is determined to learn the truth while she still can.

But instead of answers about the recent past, Mother Rita tells Nikki the incredible story of a kingdom on this very mountain, and of her great-great-great grandmother, Luella, who became 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, the more she realizes how much of her identity and her family''s secrets are contained in these hills. Because this land is their legacy, and it is up to her to protect it before - like so much else - it 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.