Happy Land: A Novel
By Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Berkley Books, 2025

Inspired by true post-Civil War North Carolina events, Happy Land tells of the founding of a community of formerly enslaved people in Appalachia and the legacies that endured over generations. An out-of-the-blue contact from her estranged grandmother sends present-day Nikki on a journey of discovery and reconciliation with her family’s history. Learning that her ancestor, Luella, became the queen of Happy Land, Nikki realizes that it is now up to her to protect her family’s land and legacy before they, like so much else, are stolen away.

This event is presented in partnership with the Delaware Historical Society and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).

About the Author
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels including Take My Hand, featured at HBF in 2022 and awarded an NAACP Image Award and a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. She teaches at American University and lives with her family in DC.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2025 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. 

Thanks to all of our donors, especially our education and outreach funding partners: Ronald Collins & Susan Cohen, Carolyn & Aaron Nayer, Jen Mason & Clare Hancock, and Browseabout Books. HBF authors visit classrooms in Delaware, and HBF provides their books to schools, libraries, and community organizations.

Our Keynote event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties and Sally Mott Freeman & John K. Freeman; our Closing event is presented by the Delaware Community Foundation. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.