Title: Perfect Peace

Author: Daniel Black

Genre: African American click lit

Hardcover: 352 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's

ISBN-10: 0312582676

Perfect Peace by Daniel Black is an African American chick lit genre. Set in the 1940s, this book depicts the lives and relationships of Emma Jean, an African American woman who desperately desires to have a baby girl. The book begins by chronicling Emma Jean’s abusive childhood. From the time Emma Jean was born, she was dead in her mother’s eyes. Indeed, throughout the book, the mother’s signature statement is repeated: “You ain’t nobody, Emma Jean; I should have named you Nobody.” Emma Jean brings this emotional baggage to her marriage with Gus. Compensating for her upbringing, Emma Jean always desired to have a daughter to love, cherish, and dress in fancy clothes. However, she had six boys instead. When her seventh child is born—another boy—Emma Jean names him Perfect, but tells everyone the child is a girl. This is when the true story begins. This is a must read for all chick lit lovers: heart-wrenching drama, a mother’s desperate decision and unforgettable characters. It stands alongside other African-American chick lit, such as Better Than I Know Myself by Virginia DeBerry, Milk in My Coffee by Eric Jerome Dickey, Playing My Mother’s Blues by Valerie Wilson Wesley, and Just Short of Crazy by Nina Fox.