*Date change for this month's meeting due to a schedule conflict!*

This month the Hidden in the Stacks Book Group will read and discuss: Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

A woman learns the astonishing truth of her family's ties to a real-life American kingdom in this transporting and riveting new novel from the New York Times bestselling, NAACP Award-winning author of Take My Hand. In the hills of Appalachia, there once existed a land ruled by a king and a queen. Inspired by distant memories of African kingdoms, a community of formerly enslaved men and women grasped freedom and started lives on mountain land that they owned. They worked hard, lived well, and loved there. For a time the kingdom thrived...and then it disappeared. Present Day. Nikki hasn't seen her grandmother in years, due to a mysterious estrangement inherited from her mother. So when the elder calls out of the blue with an urgent request for Nikki to visit her in the hills of western North Carolina, Nikki hesitates only for a moment. After years of silence in her family, she's determined to get answers while she still can. But instead of answers about the recent past, Mother Rita tells Nikki a shocking story about her great-great-great-grandmother Queen Luella and the very land they are standing on. Land that Mother Rita says must be protected. The more Nikki learns about the Kingdom of the Happy Land and the lives of those who dwelled in the ruins she finds in the woods-who are buried beneath stone grave markers-the more she understands that sometimes, atonement for the previous generations' mistakes falls squarely on the shoulders of the descendants. And it's up to her to make things right.

Free and open to the public. Space is limited. Registration is required. To register click the button below or contact the library for assistance. Copies of the book will be available to borrow at the Circulation Desk of the Central Library the previous month.

Hidden in the Stacks meets on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 6:30 PM all year long.  Visit cranstonlibrary.org/book-groups to learn about other CPL book groups. Meeting dates and book titles are subject to change.