Carolina Built

This "exuberant celebration of Black women's joy as well as their achievements" (Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author) novelizes the life of real estate magnate Josephine N. Leary in a previously untold story of passion, perseverance, and building a legacy after emancipation in North Carolina.

Josephine N. Leary is determined to build a life of her own and a future for her family. When she moves to Edenton, North Carolina from the plantation where she was born, she is free, newly married, and ready to follow her dreams.

As the demands of life pull Josephine's attention away, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to pursue her real estate aspirations. She finds herself immersed in deepening her marriage, mothering her daughters, and being a dutiful daughter and granddaughter. Still, she manages to teach herself to be a businesswoman, to manage her finances, and to make smart investments in the local real estate market. But with each passing year, it grows more and more difficult to focus on building her legacy from the ground up.

"Filled with passion and perseverance, Josephine Leary is frankly a woman that everyone should know" (Sadeqa Johnson, author of Yellow Wife) and her story speaks to the part of us that dares to dream bigger, tear down whatever stands in our way, and build something better for the loved ones we leave behind.

Author: Kianna Alexander
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 02/22/2022
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.60w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9781982163686

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2021
Booklist 12/01/2021 pg. 30
Publishers Weekly 12/06/2021

About the Author
Kianna Alexander, a North Carolina native, wears many hats: doting mother, advice-dispensing sister, and voracious reader. The author of over a dozen novels, including Carolina Built, she lives in the American southwest.