Introducing…
The Seven Daughters of Dupree
The latest novel from Nikesha Elise Williams
It’s 1995, and fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother Gladys remains silent about the family’s past, including why she left Land’s End, Alabama, in 1953. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers a legacy of family secrets, where every generation of Dupree women has posed more questions than answers.
From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby’s fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia’s future forever, the Dupree women carry the weight of their heritage. Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.
Available January 27, 2026
The Seven Daughters of Dupree masterfully weaves together themes of generational trauma, Black women’s resilience, and unbreakable familial bonds.
Echoing the literary power of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, Nikesha Elise Williams delivers a feminist literary fiction that explores the ripple effects of actions, secrets, and love through seven generations of Black women.
Praise for The Seven Daughters of Dupree
“Transcendent, vivid power… A novel of unflinching honesty and explosive secrets—and the galloping, haunting prose captures not only the heartbreak of oppression, but also the breathtaking moral beauty of resilience, honesty, and the soul's endurance.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of City of Girls
“Through Nikesha Elise Williams’ skillful telling, THE SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF DUPREE grows as intricate as the braids that hold her characters’ deepest secrets and dreams. Powerful forces intermingle—legacy and loss, joy and pain, pride and shame—and by the end I felt, with the details of this epic, intergenerational story still lingering in my mind, as if I’d been invited to do exactly as one of the titular daughters describes: ‘to fellowship in the ways only women can.’”
—Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, named a best book of 2021 by Barack Obama
“A gathering of women, family, resilience, and love! What an astonishing gift from Nikesha Elise Williams, this writer who has come into her glorious own.”
—Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Oprah's Book Club Pick
“Mothers are mysteries for daughters to unfold, ancestral spirits entangle grieving hearts among the living, and––as always with Black folks––our hair, our land, and our blood embody whole worlds beneath the surface. Nikesha Elise Williams conjures the worlds of the Dupree women with powerful, lyrical prose, and a deep, deep knowing about Black women’s resilience and intimacies, from Africa to Alabama… Haunting, heartbreaking, and utterly unforgettable.”
—Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, a National Book Award Finalist
“Outstanding... As intimate as it is expansive, Nikesha Elise Williams’ novel is tender, vividly written, and unforgettable.”
—Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins
MY OTHER BOOKS
MARDI GRAS INDIANS
Mardi Gras Indians explores how sacred and secular expressions of Carnival throughout the African diaspora came together in a gumbo-sized melting pot to birth one of the most unique traditions celebrating African culture, Indigenous peoples, and Black Americans.
BEYOND BOURBON STREET
How does a couple survive when the one thing that brought them together threatens to tear them apart?
Bombei and Graigh Halvert met in 2006 in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now fifteen years after the storm, the reluctant couple is married and on the verge of having their first child together.
LESSONS WE WERE NEVER TAUGHT
Lessons We Were Never Taught is author, Nikesha Elise Williams’s first collection of storytelling through lyrical prose and spoken word pieces. Through poetic exploration, Lessons We Were Never Taught delves deep into topics on life, on love, and on healing.
ADULTING
Can she have it all?
Naomi Grace is determined to lay hold of the life she’s always wanted. In her vision room is where she manifests her dreams of love, career, and finance, into tangible goals she can tackle one day at a time. But with a dream must come determination.
LOVE NEVER FAILS
“If I were honest, I'd be divorced right now.”
When it comes to marriage nothing is guaranteed. Not even when you marry your best friend. Jolene Walker is disenchanted with her nearly seven-year-old marriage, but her husband, Mosiah doesn't know how she feels.
THE APPEAL OF EBONY JONES
Guilty. Not Guilty.
Those are the only options facing Ebony Jones. She is standing trial in the death of Judge Barker Gordon. A crime she says she did not commit.
FOUR WOMEN
What happens to four strangers when the present meets the past and the whole world is watching?
This is the story of four women. Soleil St. James, Dawn Anthony, Ebony Jones, and Dr. Jonelle “Johnnie” Edwards all live, work, and love in Jacksonville, Florida.