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A Novel
by Princess Joy L. Perry
Three people―two enslaved, one indentured―live beside each other, fighting, and sometimes failing, to be more than their pasts say they should be.
1690s, Tidewater, Virginia. Bless, born into slavery and taken by her masters to toil in the house, faces her mother's fury, learning that cruelty can come from any side. David, an enslaved child of a freed father, dreams of the promise of liberty made to him. Jack, an impoverished Scots-Irish boy, sails to America to be indentured but, in the hellish crossing, finds his hopes fracturing. Yet, somehow, they all will stake a claim to love.
Hurston-Wright Award winner Princess Joy L. Perry tells us a previously unheard story―one in which characters must carve out choices from the narrowest of circumstances and confront heartrending questions: How far would you go to protect your children from enslavement? How to create a lasting family after being torn from your own? What to value more: a hard-won opportunity or your humanity? This Here Is Love is an unforgettable story from an astonishing new voice.
Aspen Words Literary Prize 2026
...with a social impact." I've read three (on my fourth), and of those, https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/5119/this-here-is-love This Here is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry was the most impactful for me. I can see why the others, https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/20975/the-river-i...
-kim.kovacs
BookBrowsers ask Princess Joy L. Perry, author of This Here Is Love
Thanks for being here, Princess! It was a pleasure speaking with you. We're looking forward to your next book!
-kim.kovacs
Princess Joy L. Perry, author of This Here is Love
https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/4168/princess-joy-l-perry Princess Joy L. Perry , author of our First Impressions selection https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/5119/this-here-is-love This Here is Love , will be visiting with us this week. Please...
-kim.kovacs
What’s the last book you purchased? Why did you select it? Paperback, hardback or ebook?
@Lynne_G I just finished This Here is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry. As you probably saw, she'll be here next week so I hope you'll join the conversation. It's about enslaved individuals, so there's a fair amount of h...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/6/2025)
Let's see… So last week I was fortunate enough to read two absolutely wonderful novels. The first, https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/23451/the-young-will-remember The Young Will Remember by Eve J. Chung, won't be out until May - but be on the lookout for i...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10/30/2025)
...but I'm not sure I'll have time. I need to get to https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/21037/this-here-is-love This Here is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry soon, so that may be next. Depends. In audiobook format, I'm down to the last two hours of The Cider House Rules, so should finish that up this week....
-kim.kovacs
Ask the Author mug winners
Here are the latest BookBrowse mug winners for their questions to our visiting authors: William Boyle ( https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4957/saint-of-the-narrows-street Saint of the Narrows Street ): @Anne_Glasgow Heather O'Neill ( https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (7/17/2025)
Just started This Here Is Love, by Princess Joy L. Perry. A BookBrowse first impressions book. Just finished The Names, by Florence Knapp, and really enjoyed it. Can't believe it's a debut.
-Jill
"If there is comfort in chronicling the first century of the American Slavery project, it's that it is written by one of its daughters. In This Here is Love, Princess Joy L. Perry refuses to shy away from the cruelties of surviving the realities of 17th century America and has charted the terrible truths of her character's impossible choices―even as they map a journey towards their own freedom, their futures, their shared humanity. In these pages, we have love rooted and rebuilt in the land that stripped these compelling characters of almost all they have, and a blueprint for how hope may still move us forward." ―DéLana R.A. Dameron, author of Redwood Court, a Reese's Book Club Selection
"This Here is Love is an utterly riveting intergenerational saga of love, betrayal, theft and resilience. Princess Joy L. Perry laces every chapter with fireworks and unforgettable characters―all off-kilter, wounded and searching for solace in this epic tale of slavery and freedom." ―Lawrence Hill, author of Someone Knows My Name, winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize
This information about This Here Is Love was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Princess Joy L. Perry is the recipient of a Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship and a winner of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award. Her short stories have appeared in All About Skin, African American Review, and Kweli Journal. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia.
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