Emerging Author: Piper Huguley (A VIRTUOUS RUBY)

There’s an elegance that immediately draws a potential reader to the cover of A VIRTUOUS RUBY. The model is striking, graceful, and African American. All three provide a perfect compliment to a story that is equally beautiful and powerful.

The historical romance novel by Piper Huguley follows activist Ruby Bledsoe, the mother of an
illegitimate child, as she fights for the soul of her prejudiced hometown. As with many
novels, this one
drew upon real events.

“I had long ago promised my great aunts and my grandmother that I would tell their stories of
how they
left Alabama and came to Pittsburgh for better opportunities during The Great Migration—the
largest
internal migration in the history of the United States,” Huguley said. “I think they all
thought I was a bit
touched—as the old folks would say.”

Her promise remained unfulfilled until after the 2010 publication of Danielle L. McGuire’s AT
THE DARK
END OF THE STREET.

“The book is all about Rosa Parks’ early activism advocating for black female rape victims,”
Huguley said.
“I saw these attacks as a reason The Great Migration got started—since no one knows. When
Isabelle
Wilkerson’s book, THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS, hit the bestseller lists at about the same time,
I knew it
was time to tell these stories.”

Huguley, who resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son, has made inroads in the
publication
of historical romance by telling stories of African Americans as Christian people of action
and purpose.

“Historical Romance has long focused on a ten-year period of a certain class of people in the
United
Kingdom,” she explained. “The fabulous Beverly Jenkins led the pack of historical romance
authors who
are trying to bring forward stories in different time periods to different places with
different people.
There are so many other stories to tell and they are beginning to be told.”

Her writing research has also led to compelling and shocking discoveries.

“The narrative of African Americans as complete victims is a flawed and outdated
interpretation of
history,” Huguley said. “I’m looking to create stories to highlight the new view of African
Americans as
human beings who possessed agency and made choices to benefit themselves and future
generations.”

A traditionally publishing and an indie-published author, Huguley’s next goals include more
novels--
and one particular project close to her heart.

“I would be happy if more people gave these new views of history a chance,” she said. “There
are still
too many people who are afraid and insistent on the old views. I now understand that
changing that old
view is a long-term project.”

About Piper Huguley

Piper G. Huguley is the author of the "Home to Milford College" series. The series traces the
love stories
at a small "Teachers and Preachers" college in Georgia over time, beginning with the love
story of the
founders. Book one in the series, THE PREACHER'S PROMISE, was a semi-finalist in Harlequin's
So You
Think You Can Write contest,and a quarter-finalist in the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel
Award
contest. THE REPRESENTATIVE'S REVOLT will be published in the Spring of 2015.

Huguley is also the author of "Migrations of the Heart," a five-book series of inspirational
historical
romances set in the early 20th century featuring African American characters. Book one in the
series, A
VIRTUOUS RUBY won the Golden Rose contest in Historical Romance in 2013 and is a Golden Heart
finalist in 2014. Book four in the series, A CHAMPION'S HEART, was a Golden Heart finalist in
2013. A
VIRTUOUS RUBY will be published by Samhain in July 2015.

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About A VIRTUOUS RUBY

An unexpected love in a small, Southern town.

After fifteen months of hiding from the shame of bearing an illegitimate child, two words
drive Ruby
Bledsoe to face the good citizens of Winslow, Georgia. Never again. She vows to speak out
against
injustice. For her sisters. For her parents. For her infant son, Solomon.

When she comes to help an injured mill worker, she bristles when a tall, handsome man
claiming to be a
doctor brushes her aside. Despite his arrogance, Ruby senses he’s someone like her, whose
light skin
doesn’t quite hide who he is.

Up north, Dr. Adam Morson easily kept his mixed race a secret. Now that he’s in Georgia,
summoned by
his white father, he can feel restrictions closing in around him.

Something powerful draws him to the beauty whose activist spirit is as fiery as her name. And
soon,
Adam wants nothing more than to take Ruby and her child far from Georgia’s toxic prejudice.
But Ruby
must choose between seeking her own happiness and staying to fight for the soul of her
hometown.

Warning: Contains a doctor learning there’s more to healing his patients than stitching a wound, and more to a woman than knowing her place—and it’s not in the shadows with her head down. Sorry, Buckeye fans, this hero’s a Wolverine—but we won’t hold that against him.