Fans of Alex Haley's work will appreciate "Queen" as it artfully blends fact and fiction to continue the exploration of Haley’s own ancestry, illustrating the deep complexities of American identity and race relations through the eyes of a mixed-race woman. In this journey through time, you’ll unpack the layers of heritage and struggle, as Queen strives to find her place during the turbulent eras of slavery and reconstruction. If you were moved by "Roots," Queen's story offers a poignant, personal chapter in the greater narrative of American history.

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Opening in Ireland, this book follows the story of Alex Haley's Irish great-great grandfather, James Jackson, sent to the United States, where he established the Forks of Cypress plantation in Alabama and raised his family. His son formed a romantic attachment to the beautiful strong willed slave, Easter, and together they had a daughter, Queen, Alex Haley's grandmother. After the Civil War, Queen left the plantation a free woman, tried to find her identity in a world in which she looked white but was regarded as black. She eventually married Alec Haley, a ferryboat operator, and together they strove to provide everything possible for their growing family. The culmination of Queen's dreams was when her last-born son, Simon, graduated from college, just one generation up from slavery. Alex Haley wrote the Pulitzer-Prize winning book "Roots".

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