Beverly Jenkins

Author Beverly Jenkins writes bestselling romance novels, most of them historical fiction, whose central characters are African Americans. In 2017 she was given the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award for a career that began with 1994's Night Song. Born and raised in Detroit, she studied at Michigan State University but quit just before finishing in 1973 to take a full-time job as a librarian. While raising a family and working as a reference librarian at a pharmaceutical firm, she began writing romance novels. With black characters (many based on real people), Jenkins tells love stories while exploring the history of African Americans, especially in the period between 1700 and 1900. Her novels include Indigo (1996), Through the Storm (1998), Before the Dawn (2001), Something Like Love (2005) and Rebel (2019). She has also written the Blessings series (ten novels).