Vanessa Riley is an award-winning author of Island Queen, A Good Morning America Buzz Pick and was also named the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year Awards Literary Fiction Winner for Sister Mother Warrior.

Queen of Exiles is based on the life of an extraordinary Black woman from history: Haiti’s Queen Marie-Louise Coidavid, who escaped a coup in Haiti to establish her own royal court in Italy during the Regency era. There, she became a popular figure in European royal society.

Diane Marie Brown talks about her historical novel, Black Candle Women, recently named as “A Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Seen on the Today Show.” Jenna Bush Hager says, “If you like Practical Magic… you will love Black Candle Women.” But we dive into what inspired Diane Marie Brown to write this particular story and how her own family history inspired the book.