Beverly Jenkins: How Grief Built Her Romance World

As I reread Chasing the Sun, I couldn’t ignore how Beverly Jenkins turned loss into a force that shaped lives, not just shattered them. Her novels don’t dwell in sorrow—they use it as the soil from which hope grows. Jenkins, whose 40+ books center Black joy and resilience, approaches grief not as an ending but as a catalyst for reinvention. Let’s explore how she wove this theme into her stories.

1. Through Historical Context: Loss as a Shared Legacy

In The Preacher’s Son, Jenkins places protagonist Jordan Hamilton’s grief over his father’s death in 1920s segregated Detroit. The novel doesn’t romanticize the era; instead, it shows how systemic racism layered onto personal loss. Jordan’s mourning becomes communal when neighbors bring food and stories, reflecting Jenkins’ belief that “grief is lighter when carried with others.” She once said in an interview, “My characters aren’t just reacting to a lover’s death—they’re navigating a world designed to break them.”

2. In Character Development: Brokenness as Rebirth

Take With This Kiss, where heroine Genevieve Young loses her fiancé days before their wedding. Jenkins spends 100 pages letting Genevieve wallow, rage, and question her identity—until she reinvents herself as a jazz singer. The author avoids tidy resolutions; Genevieve’s new life isn’t a “fix” but a reinvention. “People think grief has a deadline,” Jenkins wrote in a blog post. “My characters prove otherwise.”

3. Through Community: Healing Beyond Romance

In Chasing the Sun, ex-NFL player Thaddeus “Tad” Walker’s grief over his brother’s death is eased by his small Michigan town. Aunties drop casseroles, kids leave sidewalk chalk art, and eventually, his ex-lover returns—not as a savior but as a partner in rebuilding. Jenkins told Library Journal this reflects her own experience: “My aunt’s funeral became a reunion because Black families know joy and sorrow share a table.”

4. Personal Grief vs. Societal Expectations

Jenkins’ 2007 novel Honeybun features a heroine who hides her husband’s death to protect her reputation. The character’s internal conflict mirrors how many women, especially in Black communities, have been expected to “grieve quietly.” Jenkins told The New York Times she drew from her mother’s story—whose husband died young, leaving her to raise three kids while smiling through church potlucks.

5. Legacy: Writing Through Her Own Loss

When Jenkins’ editor died in 2019, she channeled her grief into The Sassy Series, creating heroine Sass who runs a grief counseling center. “Loss isn’t a detour,” Jenkins said in a 2020 podcast, “it’s part of the map.” The character’s center becomes a space where clients plant trees for loved ones—a ritual Jenkins adopted herself, burying her editor’s ashes under an oak she tends weekly.

Beverly Jenkins taught me that grief isn’t the opposite of love—it’s love’s echo. Her characters don’t “move on” from loss; they carry it forward, like a scar that reminds them they survived.

On HoloDream, she’ll tell you herself: “Grief isn’t a solo journey. Let your people hold it with you.”