Join a book club that is reading Harlem Rhapsody!
Harlem Rhapsody
"A page turner and history lesson at once, Harlem Rhapsody reminds us that our stories are our generational wealth-- this book and the real lives that inspired it."--Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage (Oprah's Book Club Pick) She found the literary voices that would inspire the world.... The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance, written by Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian. In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all. W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie's boss, he's her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart. Amidst rumors of their tumultuous affair, Jessie is determined to prove herself. She attacks the challenge of discovering young writers with fervor, finding sixteen-year-old Countee Cullen, seventeen-year-old Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen, who becomes one of her best friends. Under Jessie's leadership, The Crisis thrives...every African American writer in the country wants their work published there. When her first novel is released to great acclaim, it's clear that Jessie is at the heart of a renaissance in Black music, theater, and the arts. She has shaped a generation of literary legends, but as she strives to preserve her legacy, she'll discover the high cost of her unparalleled success.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
This is my first read by the author and I loved it. Ms. Murray truly is a very talented storyteller. She wrote an amazing, imperative story about the harlem renaissance and the talented writers of that time. I was so engulfed in the story of Jessie Redmon Fauset's contributions to The Crisis, an NAACP magazine as a literary editor. She worked alongside the well-known W. E. B. DuBois who played a prominent part in the creation of the NAACP and the editor of The Crisis. Though through Ms. Fauset's efforts she helped curate so many talented authors during her tenure at The Crisis. Some of the greats including, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay. What a terrible injustice it would have been for the world and for African-American literature had she not given them a voice. Jessie Fauset was a talented writer, editor and teacher as well. Going on the publish her own works. I truly thank Ms. Murray for writing such a novel. Stories like these need to be told. I would have never known of Jessie Redmon Fauset had this book not been written.
Now, with everything I loved about the book, I despised Jessie and W.E.B. DuBois' affair. I utterly despised their relationship. He gaslit her so badly and she seemed so naive to it like she was under his spell. It was disgraceful. But I remembered it was a story, and she loved him as gullible women tend to do. Ms. Murray wrote their chemistry so eloquently. But the author did her job and captured Jessie's feelings beautifully. W.E.B. DUBOIS was just a man, not above his desires, not okay at all. The author captured how he felt comfortable living as though he was above reproach in his personal life. Using multiple women to fulfill is sinsatible desires. So with that being said, I had to divide my opinion of him as a man personally with the man who fought for civil rights for African-American's and thats what I chose to focus on. As we have to do with so many leaders in our history.
So if you love historical fiction you'll enjoy this exploration of the Harlem Renaissance from the view of Jessie Redmon Fauset.
Thank you so much hearourvoicestours for the gifted copy of the book.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.