When Meghan Markle married Prince Harry on May 19, 2018, Debbie Rigaud rejoiced.
“At the time I was saying, ‘It’s like a real-life rom-com, and here we all are in the story!’ ” Rigaud says by phone from her home in Ohio, “meaning women of color.” The young adult writer, who began her writing career reporting news and entertainment for Seventeen, Twist,and CosmoGIRL!, is the Manhattan-born, New Jersey–raised daughter of Haitian immigrants.
“For our inner children, who’ve grown up reading about princesses and not recognizing ourselves,” she says, “but being from communities that have always said, ‘You are a princess, you come from king and queen,’ it felt right, it felt fun to explore this, but for teens.”
In Rigaud’s sparkling YA rom-com, Truly Madly Royally, 16-year-old community organizer Zora Emerson attends a prestigious summer program at Halstead University, a short train ride but a world away from her beloved hometown of Appleton, New Jersey.
Zora loves Halstead, but she’s not feeling the general air of privilege and pretension that fills its hallowed halls. A chance encounter in the library leads her to pour out her frustrations to a boy she can’t see through the stacks. Unlike her pretentious classmates, “Library Boy” willingly (and wittily) attests to his privilege:
“Sorry I’m privileged,” he confesses. “And not only just because I’m a straight white male. I’m a straight white male from a long lineage of privileged people in power—with the ridiculous bank accounts to prove it.”
“ ‘Whoa, that’s like coming straight out the womb Beyoncé,’ I say with my eyebrows practically at my hairline. ‘Beyoncé didn’t even come straight out the womb Beyoncé!’ ”
“That’s like coming straight out of the womb Beyoncé, but without any of her talent or hard work, yet people are throwing EGOTs at you, following you in droves, and waiting with bated breath for you to do something amazing.”
When “Library Boy” turns out to be Owen Whittelsey, the youngest prince of the white royal family of a small European country in the Celtic Sea, Zora must weigh the public and private costs of a high-profile sweet summer romance with her responsibilities to her family, her community, and herself.
“I feel like every good story has a love story in it,” says Rigaud, who classifies Truly Madly Royally as a rom-com but not necessarily a full-on romance. “But I always wanted to establish that Zora’s life is already in progress. Obviously, she’s not half a person—she’s not one of those ‘you complete me’ types—she’s not like that at all. She has a whole life, and how will this fit along with that? It’s more of introducing [a love interest] to a very goal-oriented, focused person and seeing if it will throw her off, if she will say, ‘You know what, I’m still a kid, why can’t I take this on and have a little fun? It’s summertime!’ ”
With snappy dialogue, good humor, and a propulsive plot, Truly Madly Royally is “a light and entertaining tale that also addresses serious real-world topics,” Kirkus writes—one that joyfully emphasizes the power and importance of representing black and interracial love in YA literature.
“I just want to invite readers into Zora’s world, invite them into Zora’s community, and just feel the love that’s there,” Rigaud says. “Come along for the ride, laugh along, and maybe cry along, but definitely come with compassion, come with an open heart, and see why Zora is, in her own right, a hometown princess.”
Megan Labrise is the editor at large and hosts the Fully Booked podcast.
