Author and Clark Atlanta University professor Piper Huguley has a way with words and history. And she’s combined her love of words and history into an amazing career. Huguley has written 14 novels.
“I write historical fiction and romance that is about conveying Black history in an accessible and understandable way,” she said. And when she writes the occasional contemporary romance, Huguley is sure to have a focus on history running through the book. For example, her romance novel Sweet Tea.
When I read this book, it reminded me of home. Small town, a grandmother who was known for her cooking and a heroine who wasn’t super excited to come home. But she had to because Althea Dailey wasn’t about to allow someone to take advantage of her grandmother.
Here’s the back blurb from the book:
Althea Dailey has succeeded beyond her wildest dreams: She’s about to make partner at her prestigious law firm in New York. So why doesn’t she feel more excited about it? When she has to travel South for a case, she pays a long-overdue visit back home to Milford, Georgia. To her surprise, a white man she’s never met has befriended her grandmother.
Jack Darwent wasn’t interested in the definition of success dictated by Southern high society. His passion for cooking led him to his current project: a documentary and cookbook about authentic Southern food. Althea’s grandmother is famous for her cooking at Milford College, a historically Black institution. But Althea suspects Jack of trying to steal her grandmother’s recipes.
Despite Althea and Jack’s first impressions of one another, they discover they have more in common than they’d guessed…and even as they learn about one another’s pasts, they both see glimmers of a better future.
If you think this sounds like a Hallmark movie, you’re almost correct. The book was published by Hallmark Publishing and Huguley said the book is in development to become a movie.
“My heroine had forgotten her history,” Huguley said. “A call with her grandmother compels her to come home when she discovers that someone else seems to care more about that forgotten past and history than she does.”
And she thinks he’s a crook trying to make money off that history too. Jack, the hero in the novel, isn’t trying to gentrify soul food, but it takes some convincing on his part to gain Althea’s trust. Reading this book is like rediscovering that play you might have left but returned to as an adult. Somehow the quiet and the smiles of hello from the people who watched you grow up are more inviting than sitting alone in a crowded room.
And the sweet romance that develops between Jack and Althea, with the social issues the couple face, is beautiful to read. That was by design, Huguley said.
“Her fear was this white man was taking advantage of her grandmother whom she had severely neglected. And she knew that recipes are intellectual property. She was afraid that he was going to be stealing her grandmother’s intellectual property.”
As a literature professor at CAU, it’s pretty easy to understand why Huguley’s words flow like a river when you read her novels. And the great thing about a good writer, she can write in any genre.
I bet you’ve heard of Jacqueline Bouvier and John F. Kennedy’s magical wedding day and the gown the future Mrs. Kennedy wore.
Think fast: Who was the designer? And no, it was not Vera Wang.
Ann Lowe was the designer who created one of the most talked about gowns of all time. In the novel, By Her Own Design, Huguley tells Lowe’s story.
Huguley wanted to tell this story because she said there had been an effort to erase Ann Lowe from the history books.
“These society women made a plan among themselves to not reveal who she was. She was called the best-kept secret for this reason. They did not want to reveal her. They didn’t want their designs duplicated, although it was clear that she was making one-of-a-kind dresses.”
Lowe made dresses for the Vanderbelts, the Duponts, the Roosevelts, and yes, that First Lady. But that’s not the whole story.
Here’s the book’s back blurb:
The incredible untold story of how Ann Lowe, a Black woman and granddaughter of slaves, rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design and create one of America’s most famous wedding dresses of all time for Jackie Kennedy.
1953, New York City
Less than a week before the society wedding of the year where Jacqueline Bouvier will marry John F. Kennedy, Jr, a pipe bursts at Ann Lowe’s dress shop and ruins 11 dresses, including the expensive wedding dress, a dress that will be judged by thousands. A Black designer who has fought every step of the way, Ann knows this is only one struggle after a lifetime of them. She and her seamstresses will find the way to re-create the dresses. It may take all day and all night for the next week to accomplish the task, but they will do it.
1918, Tampa
Raised in Jim Crow Alabama, Ann learned the art of sewing from her mother and her grandmother, a former slave, who are the most talented seamstresses in the state. After Ann elopes at 12 with an older man who soon proves himself to be an abusive alcoholic, her dreams of becoming a celebrated designer seem to be put on hold. But then a wealthy Tampa socialite sees Ann’s talent and offers her an amazing opportunity—the chance to sew and design clothing for Florida’s society elite. Taking her young son in the middle of the night, Ann escapes her husband and embarks on the adventure of a lifetime.
Based on the true story of one of the most famous designers of the ’20s through the ’60s who has since been unjustly forgotten, By Her Own Design is an unforgettable novel of determination despite countless obstacles and a triumph celebrated by the world.
Huguley said one of the main things she learned while writing and researching this book is that you should never give up. And that is a lesson we can all take to heart!
Get to know Piper Huguley:
www.piperhuguley.com
www.facebook.com/piperghuguley