New Books Network Princess Joy L. Perry, "This Here Is Love" (W.W. Norton, 2025)
Jan 31, 2026
Princess Joy L. Perry, an award-winning novelist and fellowship recipient, discusses her novel This Here Is Love. She explores writing across Virginia history, shaping three intertwined lives at the seventeenth-century frontier. Conversations touch on research-driven sensory detail, removing whiteness from the narrative, influences like Toni Morrison, and the novel’s long evolution and title choice.
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School Trip That Sparked The Book
- Princess Joy L. Perry recalls a school trip to Hope Plantation where slavery was omitted from the tour.
- Her grandmother's anger at that omission planted a seed that later inspired her interest in how people survived enslavement.
Virginia As Living Research Lab
- Perry locates the novel in Virginia because she can physically access foundational sites of early American slavery.
- That proximity shaped her desire to trace how slavery began and evolved in the nation.
Let History Serve Character
- Use history sparingly in fiction to reveal character origins and motives rather than overload readers with facts.
- Read widely for research but include only what helps explain who the character becomes.
