Review: The American Queen by Vanessa Miller

The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: January 30, 2024
Library: Yes! And then I'd tell everyone about it!

Synopsis

In 1869 a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen.

Over the twenty-four years she’s been enslaved on the Montgomery Plantation, Louella learned to feel one hate. Hate for the man who sold her mother. Hate for the overseer who left her daddy to hang from a noose. Hate so powerful there’s no room in her heart for love, not even for the honorable Reverend William, whom she likes and respects enough to marry.

But when William finally listens to Louella’s pleas and leads the formerly enslaved people out of their plantation, Louella begins to replace her hate with hope. Hope that they will find a place where they can live free from fear. Hope that despite her many unanswered prayers, she can learn to trust for new miracles.

Soon, William and Louella become the appointed king and queen of their self-proclaimed Kingdom of the Happy Land. And though they are still surrounded by opposition, they continue to share a message of joy and goodness—and fight for the freedom and dignity of all.

Transformative and breathtakingly honest, The American Queen shares the unsung true history of a kingdom built as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life.

Review

The book was sent to me by publishers in exchange for an honest review, and this post is a part of the Hear Our Voices book tour! AKA My group!!

It feels like every day I learn about something else that I wish I had learned in school. School, and history class were always awkward, particularly when we were talking about slavery and Jim Crow. I was often one of the only black kids in the class (even though we had a good amount of black students in the school. It was just a huge school) and not only would the students look at you to see if you had something to say on the subject of the history of black people in America, but the teachers would sometimes send the side eye too. 

To make it worse, the way that the story of enslaved black people and black people looking for equal rights was discussed was overrun with nothing but death, destruction, and outrage. If we heard stories about families it was how they were ripped a part from each other. While all of that was true, there was also knowledge, strength, and AMAZING stories about a group of black people who build a kingdom of their own. A Happy Land. 

The journey was a rough one, there was plenty of sadness, and Louella's husband William was NOT helping, what a beautiful and amazing story. I know The American Queen has been fictionalized, I think this was the first book I've read, or the first time I've been exposed to the story of a passing black man enslaving his own people and how the ideals and privileges of whiteness were often prioritized over the fact that he was in fact and black male and would be treated as such by the people who found out. 

It was interesting, and frustrating, to have so many overlapping experiences, those who wanted to stay on plantations because they equated it with safety, those who wanted to try to work the land they'd been enslaved on hoping to find some upward mobility, and those, like Louella, who knew that they could NEVER have what they deserved, if they remained on the land that they were enslaved on. 

At some point I'm going to have to stop lying to myself saying I don't like historical fiction. I think I'm slowly working through that mental block of expecting nothing but despair from historical fiction that centers black Americans. There aren't enough ways to thank the author who have slowly introduced me to this beautiful genres and so many stories of substance.