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, a pipe bursts at Ann Lowe’s dress shop and ruins eleven 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 twelve 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 twenties through the sixties 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.

By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register

Literature & Fiction

Huguley, Piper

United States

William Morrow Paperbacks

William Morrow Large Print

In the vein of America's First Daughter, Piper Huguley's historical novel delves into the remarkable friendship of Portia Washington and Alice Roosevelt, the daughters of educator Booker T. Washington and President Teddy Roosevelt. At the turn of the twentieth century, in a time of great change, two women--separated by societal status and culture but bound by their expected roles as the daughters of famed statesmen--forged a lifelong friendship.&nbsp; Portia Washington's father Booker T. Washington was formerly enslaved and spent his life championing the empowerment of Black Americans through his school, known popularly as Tuskegee Institute, as well as his political connections. Dedicated to her father's values, Portia contributed by teaching and performing spirituals and classical music. But a marriage to a controlling and jealous husband made fulfilling her dreams much more difficult.&nbsp; When Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency, his eldest daughter Alice Roosevelt joined him in the White House. To try to win her father's approval, she eagerly jumped in to help him succeed, but Alice's political savvy and nonconformist behavior alienated as well as intrigued his opponents and allies. When she married a congressman, she carved out her own agendas and continued espousing women's rights and progressive causes.&nbsp; Brought together in the wake of their fathers' friendship, these bright and fascinating women helped each other struggle through marriages, pregnancies, and political upheaval, supporting each other throughout their lives.&nbsp;&nbsp; A provocative historical novel and revealing portrait, Piper Huguley's American Daughters vividly brings to life two passionate and vital women who nurtured a friendship that transcended politics and race over a century ago.&nbsp;

American Daughters: A Novel

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 Oberlin, Ohio – 1844 Lawrence Stewart is a rare man. Raised with his grandmother’s Miami Indian tribe, he’s a Negro with brown skin, and has consistently walked between two worlds most of his life. He devotes his time and study to becoming a lawyer, fully intending to obtain justice for the ousted Miami Indians. No Negro man has accomplished these things before, but he is not daunted. He studies for his exams as he rides circuit through the backwoods of Ohio, handing out justice to people who cannot easily reach a courthouse. His life is perfectly set until one June day…. Aurelia “Realie” Baxter made her way from enslavement in Georgia to the free land Lake Huron in Ohio. Far from happy as a slave doing the bidding of a woman cooped up in a house all day, Realie is a bona fide tomboy with a special gift with horses. Now, she is so close to freedom in Canada, she can smell it, but her plans are interrupted when Lawrence shoots her…by mistake…. Lawrence cannot study encumbered with the care of an enslaved woman, but he’s responsible for her injury… Realie wants to get to Canada, but Lawrence won’t let her get away in trying to help her… One chance meeting can change your life from what you thought you wanted….to what you really need.

The Lawyer's Luck: A Home to Milford College prequel novella

Liliaceae Publishers

Sparrow Piper Huguley In the hot summer of ‘68, recent graduate Sparrow Jones takes a job running the summer program at her family’s church hoping to save enough money to attend music school. Despite her mother's objections, music is Sparrow's ministry. Yet, as she throws herself into her work, she finds a different calling in little Carole and her stern father. Widower Master Sargent John Charles drops his little girl off at the church everyday, trusting them to take care his daughter while he works and maybe help her to regain her speech. When the feisty program director begins questioning his parenting skills, it takes all of his military disciplines to keep his temper and manners in check. Yet, the thought of her and the care she shows for his child makes the heart he thought he'd buried beat again. With the summer coming to an end, will Sparrow be able to fly away to her dreams of a music career or has her heart become entangled with a helpless little girl and her military father? Lark Deborah Mello Devastated by the death of her mother, Lark St. Clair must mend more than a broken heart. At odds with her own child, Lark is determined to honor the matriarch's memory by repairing the rift between herself and her daughter, Dove. Revisiting history, the two embark on an emotional journey as Lark shares the story of finding herself through her music and discovering the love of her life with choir director, Martin Warren when love seemed elusive to her. Dove Iris Bolling Life should be a song worth singing. That’s what Dove Warren’s grandmother always instilled in her. With a voice to make grown men fall to their knees and the beauty to match, Dove has had her fill with singing. Until her grandmother shares a dream giving Dove the motivation to used her gift of music to spread the love. Anthony Perry, a strong, caring man who lost his brothers to violence, vowed to give his mother at least one child who turned his back on the street life. As District Attorney of the City of Richmond, it never occurred to him that an angel falling into his arms could fill the empty recesses of his life. Will Dove lose the man whose very presence fills her heart with song or will she have the chance to bring a dream of three generations to fruition?

Songbird

Romance

Bolling, Iris

Fletcher-Mello, Deborah

Contemporary

Siri Austin Entertainment LLC

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6  Oberlin, Ohio - 1844 Lawrence Stewart is a rare man. Raised with his grandmother's Miami Indian tribe, he's a Negro with brown skin, and has consistently walked between two worlds most of his life. He devotes his time and study to becoming a lawyer, fully intending to obtain justice for the ousted Miami Indians. No Negro man has accomplished these things before, but he is not daunted. He studies for his exams as he rides circuit through the backwoods of Ohio, handing out justice to people who cannot easily reach a courthouse.  His life is perfectly set until one June day.... Aurelia "Realie" Baxter made her way from enslavement in Georgia to the free land Lake Huron in Ohio. Far from happy as a slave doing the bidding of a woman cooped up in a house all day, Realie is a bona fide tomboy with a special gift with horses. Now, she is so close to freedom in Canada, she can smell it, but her plans are interrupted when Lawrence shoots her...by mistake....  Lawrence cannot study encumbered with the care of an enslaved woman, but he's responsible for her injury...  Realie wants to get to Canada, but Lawrence won't let her get away in trying to help her...  One chance meeting can change your life from what you thought you wanted....to what you really need. 

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

1866 – Oberlin, Ohio/ Milford, Georgia Devastated by her father’s death days after her triumphant graduation from Oberlin College, Amanda Stewart is all alone in the world. Her father’s unscrupulous business partner offers her an indecent proposal to earn a living. Instead, to fulfill a promise she made to her father, she resolves to start a school to educate and uplift their race. Sorting through her father’s papers, she discovers he had carried on a mysterious correspondence with a plantation in Milford, Georgia. She determines to start her teaching work with the formerly enslaved. However, when she arrives, the mayor tells her to leave. There’s no where for her to go. Virgil Smithson, Milford’s mayor, blacksmith and sometimes preacher man with a gift for fiery oratory, doesn’t want anything to do with a snobby schoolteacher from up North. On top of everything else, the schoolteacher lady has a will hard enough to match the iron he forges. He must organize his fellow formerly enslaved citizens into a new town and raise his young daughter alone. Still, his troubled past haunts him. He cannot forget the promise he made to his daughter’s mother as she died—that their child would learn to read and write. If only he didn’t have secrets that the new schoolteacher seems determined to uncover. To keep THE PREACHER’S PROMISE, Amanda and Virgil must put aside their enmity, unite for the sake of a newly-created community in a troubling age, and do things they never imagined. In the aftermath of the flood that was the Civil War, God set his bow upon the earth to show love and understanding for humankind. To reflect God’s promise, these combatants must put aside their differences and come together--somehow.

The Preacher's Promise: A Home to Milford College novel

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Milford, GA 1868: Milford College is in trouble. The mission to create teachers and preachers for the recently freed populations is on a shaky course because of problems between the married founders. Mayor Virgil Smithson has been away to the constitutional convention in the newly established state capitol in Atlanta for almost five months. He’s late in getting back home. Worried about her husband, Amanda Smithson manages the crowded and growing school by herself. How they will pay the taxes on the school property if Virgil doesn’t return from Atlanta? More problems: The Milford daughters-in-law arrive in town, determined to wrest what they see as their rightful inheritance from the Smithsons. Amanda has hired an old school chum from Oberlin to teach the older students. And he’s a tad too affectionate with Amanda for Virgil’s liking. Just when it all seems impossible to resolve, the Smithsons must endure another crisis that threatens to tear them, and the dream of their school----apart. When life becomes difficult, it will take all of God’s love and mercy for the Smithsons to come together to fight within the bonds of holy matrimony that united them less than two years before. It will be the mission of the mayor, and his wife, to do what it takes to keep the new and coltish educational tradition that they began together going-- to keep their love alive.

The Mayor's Mission (Home to Milford College)

The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology, with a foreword by the inimitable Beverly Jenkins, brings you four novellas highlighting love, light, and hope set over a period of history that’s often left in the shadows. Amazing Grace, by Lena Hart: It’s the year 1866—the Civil War is over and slavery has ended. Life for 18-year-old Gracie Shaw takes an unexpected turn when she is “encouraged” to marry a man sight-unseen. Boarded on a train headed West—to lawless territory—she is faced with misfortune at every turn and must accept the help of former Confederate soldier, Logan Finley, while denying herself the one thing she wants most. Him. Drifting to You, by Kianna Alexander: During the sultry Carolina summer of 1875, baker Rosaline Rhodes boards a Juneteenth cruise down the Cape Fear River. She's there to serve her famous cinnamon spice cake; shipbuilder Will Pruett is there for pleasure. They've denied their mutual attraction for months, but now the river won't be the only thing ebbing and flowing. A Sweet Way to Freedom, by Piper Huguley: In 1910, schoolteacher Missouri Baxter refuses to return home with a big belly and no husband. She’s got nine months to teach juke joint owner Arlo Tucker—a most reluctant student—an important lesson about what marriage means to their people. With God on her side, she'll show him “A Sweet Way to Freedom.” Let It Shine, by Alyssa Cole: Sofronia Wallis knows that proper Black women don't court trouble by upending the status quo, and they most certainly don't associate with roughneck Jewish boxers like Ivan Friedman. But it’s 1961 and the Civil Rights movement is in full swing. Change—and love—are coming whether Sofie is ready or not.

The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology

Cole, Alyssa

Alexander, Kianna

Hart, Lena

Historical

Featuring bestselling authors Tia McCollors, Piper Huguley, Sherri Lewis, Michelle Lindo-Rice, Rhonda McKnight, Pat Simmons, and the new literary voices of Kelli-Lynn Daugherty, Colette Harrell, Brian Thompson, Heather Thompson, C.J. Tucker and Sonya Visor. When She Loves is a collection of short stories from the bestselling authors you love and an introduction to the works of six new literary voices. When women love, they love hard. When women love, they sometimes cast their fears aside. When women love, they dive in with every emotion. And when women love, they can change the way you see the world. When She Loves is an anthology of fictional stories of inspiration, drama, romance and sacrifice. With stories like Love’s Miracle, When Love Is Enough, The Greatest Of These, 99 Miles, and Romancing Jacinta, readers will have their choice of stories that can be read in your favorite love seat at home or on the go -- in the doctor’s waiting room, the bank line, at lunchtime, before bedtime or at your child’s football practice.

When She Loves

Lewis, Sherri

McKnight, Rhonda

Simmons, Pat

Thompson, Brian

Lindo-Rice, Michelle

McCollors, Tia

Thompson, Heather

Harrell, Colette

Daugherty, Kelli-Lynn

Short Stories & Anthologies

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Books by Huguley, Piper