BLACK GIRLS MUST HAVE IT ALL

Jayne Allen is the pen name of Jaunique Sealey, a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School. An avid traveler, she speaks three languages and has visited five continents. Drawing from her unique experiences as an attorney and entrepreneur, she crafts transcultural stories that touch upon contemporary women’s issues such as workplace and career dynamics, race, fertility, modern relationships and mental health awareness. Her writing echoes her desire to bring both multiculturalism and multidimensionality to a rich and colorful cast of characters inspired by the magic uncovered in everyday life.  Black Girls Must Die Exhausted is her first novel which she calls “the epitaph of my 30s.” A proud native of Detroit, she currently lives in Los Angeles.

“An impossible-to-put-down novel chronicling Tabitha Walker’s extremely relatable journey through relationships—with men, friends, family, and most importantly, herself. With finely-drawn characterizations and touching life lessons, Jayne Allen paints Tabitha’s “adulting” journey with heartbreaking, heartwarming strokes that stayed with me long after I’d finished reading. (On a personal note, as a Black woman who struggles with infertility, it’s so refreshing that Allen sheds a light on this rarely-told story.) Sign me up for the trilogy!” — Tia Williams, award-winning author of The Perfect Find and Seven Days in June on Black Girls Must Die Exhausted

“Masterfully written and pitch perfect, Black Girls Must Be Magic is, simply, magic.” — Good Morning America on Black Girls Must Be Magic

“Allen shines in her second installment of a planned trilogy about a career-driven Black woman… Allen’s sharp, frank prose advances the engaging plot. This bittersweet treat will have wide appeal with women’s fiction fans.” — Publishers Weekly on Black Girls Must Be Magic

1. Black Girls Must Have It All, along with the first two books in the series, examines motherhood in many different forms, conventional and otherwise. What different examples of mothering can you identify? What does motherhood mean to you? What are some ways you nurture and allow yourself to be nurtured?

2. Tabitha Walker has always had a checklist of what she thought her life would be. In the early days of motherhood, she finds herself reevaluating her life. “For the first time in my life, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.” What insecurities is she struggling with? Are her feelings understandable? Have you ever felt like this? What was the situation and how was it resolved?

3. How does Tabby feel about marriage? Do you empathize with her hesitancy? Should Tabby and Marc marry because they’ve had a child together? What do families look like to you? What are your thoughts on co-parenting?

4. Both Marc’s mother and Tabby’s mother have strong opinions about how Tabby should parent. How does each make Tabby feel? Why do so many people feel the need to share their opinions on how to mother? “That’s the thing about advice; its value is mostly subjective.” What do you think about this statement?

5. Tabby learns from her sisters that her father and Diane are fighting, and she assumes he is going to leave. After confronting her father and learning that is not the case, she realizes she was “stuck in the loop of her past.” How have Tabby’s experiences caused her to feel stuck?

6. Tabby has experienced many challenges in the workplace throughout the series. In book #1 she is passed over for a promotion that went to a less qualified male colleague. In book #2 Tabby’s natural hair becomes a source of tension. In book #3 Tabby must contend with being left behind while on maternity leave. What challenges do women, in particular Black women and mothers, experience in their workplace? Have you experienced similar challenges? How did you confront these challenges?

7. Lisa cautions Tabby that her workplace would not be the same one she left. How does maternity leave affect a woman’s return to work? Are Tabby’s worries justified? Do women inherently miss out on work opportunities due to the decisions to become a mother?

8. Laila feels left out when Alexis and Tabby talk about their relationships and children. Tabby confides to Alexis that she understands how Laila would feel invisible, especially since the choices she made aren’t seen as sacrifices. Laila is not married, does not have a child, and has recently started a business. What has she sacrificed by making these choices?

9. When considering her work, motherhood, her friends…her whole life, Tabby thinks, “I’d really really like to be happy—not my mother’s kind of happy, or my grandmother’s even. What I want is life’s very best.” What does she mean? How does generational happiness differ?

10. When Tabby admits to feeling overwhelmed her doctor prescribes her to “ask for help.” Andouele tells Tabby that asking for help is self-care. Why is asking for help so difficult for Tabby? Was there ever a time you needed help but couldn’t ask for it?

11. What does the title Black Girls Must Have It All mean to you? Does Tabby succeed in “having it all”? What does it mean to you to “have it all”?

12. What’s next for Tabitha Walker?

BLACK GIRLS MUST HAVE IT ALL

A Letter to Book Clubs

Wow, what a ride we’ve been on together. As my eyes passed over the very last words of the Black Girls Must Have It All manuscript, after all the deep work and the tears, the laughable mishaps and rewrites, I felt relief in knowing we’d finally given Tabby the happy ending she deserved. In that moment, I hoped to capture in its rawest form what I most wanted to say to you, the readers who have supported this unlikely journey. Above all, I want to say thank you. Thank you so much.

When I first started this series, I had so many doubts and fears, much like Tabby, who you first met when she was only 33 years old in Black Girls Must Die Exhausted. In this final novel of the trilogy, you’ll rejoin her as a mother, years since that first car ride into work when she poured her heart out to you and invited you into her world. You’ll be reintroduced to a much more confident woman, but who still has a long way to go—in many ways still, just like me. Tabby has taught me to love myself even more, to be authentic, and that it’s perfectly fine to name my own happily ever after.

There’s a significant theme of mothering in this book, but not just in the conventional sense. In these pages is a celebration of motherhood—how we nurture each other, ourselves, our dreams, and our communities—and the humans who call that role of nurturer their own.

I hope this book makes you want to call the person who nurtures you or someone who you nurture. I hope it makes you want to hug your loved one. Love on yourself. Tell someone thank you, that you see them, and try your best to make it true.

In every moment of writing this book, I thought of you. I’ve given you my very best and I hope so very much that you enjoy.

Yours always,

Jayne Allen