By Bridgette Bartlett Royall ·Updated February 24, 2026 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Girlfriends, Akil is an iconic storyteller. The wife and mom of two possesses an undisputable gift for creating characters who have layers, and are ambitious, intelligent and resilient, while also being fly, flawed and vulnerable. We become invested in their relationships, their careers and their families. She gets us. She is us.

Now, the Northwestern grad is turning the page in her career and adding yet another accomplishment to her impressive resume: novelist. Akil’s debut novel, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne will officially be released on June 30. Tapping into her stellar character development skills, Akil delivers what is sure to be a publishing cult classic just like her shows. The book’s protagonist, Dionne Daphne, has everything a modern, thirty-something New York City woman in the 1990s could desire. She’s the beauty editor at a prestigious magazine (translation: unlimited skincare products and spa visits), has a poppin’ social life, and a fi-one boyfriend. But all of this comes to a crashing halt when he arrives at her Brooklyn doorstep with life-threatening news. Will this destroy Dionne’s seemingly picture-perfect life?

In true Akil fashion, this page turner reveals that there is always more to people beyond what is shown on the surface. The novel takes readers into Dionne’s past, unearthing a dark secret that she has hidden since childhood. What follows is a deeply moving novel about enduring love and self-awakening. The Revelation of Dionne Daphne is a gripping book that demonstrates what can happen when you dig deep enough into the shadows of your life. It’s a powerful story of the reconnection of broken lovers, fractured family, and distant friendships.

Mara Brock Akil’s storytelling magic ensure that her debut novel be an instant bestseller.

“My hope is that readers will see themselves in Dionne and recognize the weight they’ve been holding and feel permission to release it. Stepping into fiction as a novelist has been a beautiful journey for me, expanding my storytelling into a new form and discovering what revelation looks like on the page and I am so grateful to have Storehouse Voices alongside me on this new journey,” explains Akil. She adds, “I wrote this novel with the intention of taking the reader through a story that may be familiar.  One of isolation, shame, resilience and the redemptive power of love.” 

Akil’s laser focus storytelling was even more empowered when she partnered with Storehouse Voices, publisher of the novel. Known for helping to amplify the voices of Black women through literature, the strategic collaboration was a no-brainer. “Mara Brock Akil has shaped the emotional landscape of a generation through television,” shares Tamira Chapman, Publisher of Storehouse Voices. “With The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, she brings that same depth, vulnerability, and cultural insight to the page. Mara is a master storyteller reminding us that Black women’s interior lives deserve permanence in literature.”

Chelcee Johns, Executive Editor at Storehouse Voices agrees. “I’d always wondered what a novel from Mara Brock Akil would look like,” Johns admits. “I reached out with hopes she’d been thinking the same and after a few years of working behind the scenes, what has come is beyond anything I’d imagined. This debut novel wrestles with themes of sexual awakening and acceptance, family trauma, sudden love and evolving friendship through a character with as much bite as she has tenderness.”

We are excited to read this literary gem and know you are too. For more information about The Revelation of Dionne Daphne and to preorder a signed copy, visit RevelationofDionneDaphne.com. 

TOPICS:  Being Mary Jane black authors Forever Girlfriends Mara Brock Akil

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Author: Okla Jones

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