Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Wench | 2009 | Buy |
| Balm | 2015 | Buy |
| Take My Hand | 2022 | Buy |
| The Princess and the Dragon | 2022 | Buy |
| Happy Land | 2025 | Buy |
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is an American novelist who writes historical fiction centered on the African American experience. Her debut, Wench (2009), tells the story of enslaved women brought by their masters to an Ohio resort in the years before the Civil War. The novel examines the complex relationships between enslaved women and the men who own them, and how proximity to freedom shapes their choices.
Her subsequent novels have continued to explore race and history through personal stories. Balm (2015) is set in Chicago during the aftermath of the Civil War, Take My Hand (2022) addresses the real history of forced sterilization in 1970s Alabama, and The Princess and the Dragon (2022) is a picture book. Happy Land, her most recent novel, is scheduled for 2025. Perkins-Valdez’s work is grounded in archival research and a commitment to centering Black women’s stories within larger historical events.