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There are currently 30 member reviews
for Happy Land
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Barbara B. (Harlingen, TX)
Happy Land
I loved the story and characters of this book. The Civil War has ended. The KKK is rampant. A group of freed people trek to remote Appalachia. They establish a communal village based on the laws and leadership of the African communities they were forced to leave. They call it Kingdom of Happy Land because all are happy.. They work hard. They prosper. They purchase land. They lose the land. It was a male dominated society until little by little it wasn't..
The story is told by Luella, one of the original settlers (1875) and by Nikki a present time great granddaughter. Nikki is amazed to learn the family history she never suspected but sets out to attempt to correct the wrongs.
Even readers who are not historical history buffs will enjoy these interesting characters. Perhaps while we are being entertained we will all take a moment to reflect on how our past affects our present..
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Deborah C. (Highland Park, NJ)
Enduring Injustices
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 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.
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Gaye R. (Coupeville, WA)
Generations
Four women-mother, daughter, granddaughter and grandmother-have differing generational knowledge and emotional connections with their ancestors' history and land that keeps the family members estranged from one another. Their shared ancestral history and the land that they will inherit invites the women to consider reconciliation while acknowledging their differences. An intriguing story of how the knowledge of family history can bind together or tear apart.
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Paula B. (Albuquerque, NM)
Moving Past Slavery
I don't know that I have ever read a novel about the lives of former slaves in postwar Civil War life. The original or at least rarely used theme makes the book interestingI. It is a glimpse of some of the difficulties encountered by the newly freed slaves, but an almost gentle one. It is juxtaposed with the current problems of the descendants of the same family. The story line illustrates how different the lives of the twenty-first century members of the family is from that of the nineteenth century family members. A fresh look at newly freed black family's perspective is worth reading and provides several avenues of discussion or discovery, especially for readers with little knowledge of the one hundred years after the American Civil War. The backdrop of discord within the modern family seems to add little to the story other than a mechanism by which to explain how they got where they are. Overall the book is an easy read and worth the time spent reading it.
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Elizabeth V. (Bellbrook, OH)
Happy Land, Happy Reader
I enjoyed this book. I'm a long time family researcher so I appreciated that this was based on a true story. I loved the woman-centered story lines, and the resiliency the women showed when faced with challenges seemed particularly appropriate right now.
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Wendy F
Lovely historical fiction
A tale of family, land ownership, and freedom. Learning the history of this intentional community shows the perseverance of a people. The love and heartbreak we can feel within our families is shown throughout this book. It gives hope through history.
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Diane J. (Grove City, PA)
Finding Refuge in Happy Land
Each of Doris Perkins-Valdez's books allow readers to look behind the scenes and witness the courage and faith of enslaved people. The author has successfully narrated difficult periods in our country's history (spanning from pre Civil War time through ongoing racial violence in the post Civil war Reconstruction era) which we need to continue to revisit in order to go forward.
Perkins-Valdez's newest book, Happy Land, reveals a how a community of freed slaves moved away from the developing KKK threat to build a safe community protected with their own governance. This unique commune was known as a "kingdom" (modeled after African communities) and remarkably, they gained the freedom of land ownership.
This little known chapter of Black history is presented in an appealing dual timeline. We are first introduced to the group of brave and hardworking individuals who establish the kingdom in the 1870's. Then, a modern account traces the decedents of the Kingdom of Happy Land founders. It was fascinating to connect the dots of the multiple generations.
The only bump in the road I encountered was in the second half of the book. A perplexing plot line develops between two characters in the Kingdom of Happy Land. This felt like a diversion that only delayed learning of the social, legal and technological events that threatened the kingdom. The story finally gets recentered and arrives at a realistic and satisfactory conclusion.
I strongly recommend Happy Land to historic fiction and literary fiction readers. Through the lively and sympathetic characters Perkins-Valdez lovingly puts together, I learned about so much more about Reconstruction era history.
Thank you BookBrowse for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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