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The Book of Harlan
The Book of Harlan
One of the Washington Post's Best Books of 2016 So Far
"Simply miraculous...As her saga becomes ever more spellbinding, so does the reader's astonishment at the magic she creates. This is a story about the triumph of the human spirit over bigotry, intolerance and cruelty, and at the center of The Book of Harlan is the restorative force that is music."
—Washington Post
"McFadden packs a powerful punch with tight prose and short chapters that bear witness to key events in early twentieth-century history: both World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Great Migration. Partly set in the Jim Crow South, the novel succeeds in showing the prevalence of racism all across the country—whether implemented through institutionalized mechanisms or otherwise. Playing with themes of divine justice and the suffering of the righteous, McFadden presents a remarkably crisp portrait of one average man's extraordinary bravery in the face of pure evil."
—Booklist, Starred review
"Through this character portrait of Harlan, McFadden has constructed a vivid, compelling narrative that makes historical fiction an accessible, literary window into the African-American past and some of the contemporary dilemmas of the present."
—Publishers Weekly
"During WWII, two African-American musicians are captured by the Nazis in Paris and imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp, in the latest from the author of Sugar and Loving Donovan."
—Publishers Weekly, Spring 2016 Announcements
"McFadden's writing breaks the heart—and then heals it again. The perspective of a black man in a concentration camp is unique and harrowing and this is a riveting, worthwhile read."
—Toronto Star
"I've finally discovered a writer I should've been reading for years!...McFadden has a gift for placing her characters into the vivid history swirling around them, but keeping their emotional experience front and center in the story. There's a Zora Neale Hurston sensibility to the way she does that."
—MPR News, Kerri Miller's Must-Read
"A moving epic that follows the life of one man, Harlan Elliott, The Book of Harlan weaves real-life characters from McFadden's own life into a fictionalized story about the treatment of black people during the Holocaust."
—Deep South Magazine
"From Macon, Georgia, to Harlem, and from the City of Lights to Weimar, Germany, Bernice L. McFadden's latest novel follows Harlan and his friend Lizard, two black musicians who are captured by the Nazis during WWII and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. The Book of Harlan blends family history and world history, fact and fiction, to revisit a haunting chapter from the past."
—Hello Beautiful, #BlackWomenRead: 17 Books by Black Women You Need In Your Life This Spring
"Hidden history comes alive in this novel about an African American man from Georgia who became a musician in Harlem, played in Paris, lived through the horrors of the Buchenwald concentration camp, and spent his final years in the turmoil of the 1960s."
—World Wide Work
The Book of Harlan opens with the courtship of Harlan's parents and his 1917 birth in Macon, Georgia. After his prominent minister grandfather dies, Harlan and his parents move to Harlem, where he eventually becomes a professional musician. When Harlan and his best friend, trumpeter Lizard Robbins, are invited to perform at a popular cabaret in the Parisian enclave of Montmartre—affectionately referred to as "The Harlem of Paris" by black...
One of the Washington Post's Best Books of 2016 So Far
"Simply miraculous...As her saga becomes ever more spellbinding, so does the reader's astonishment at the magic she creates. This is a story about the triumph of the human spirit over bigotry, intolerance and cruelty, and at the center of The Book of Harlan is the restorative force that is music."
—Washington Post
"McFadden packs a powerful punch with tight prose and short chapters that bear witness to key events in early twentieth-century history: both World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Great Migration. Partly set in the Jim Crow South, the novel succeeds in showing the prevalence of racism all across the country—whether implemented through institutionalized mechanisms or otherwise. Playing with themes of divine justice and the suffering of the righteous, McFadden presents a remarkably crisp portrait of one average man's extraordinary bravery in the face of pure evil."
—Booklist, Starred review
"Through this character portrait of Harlan, McFadden has constructed a vivid, compelling narrative that makes historical fiction an accessible, literary window into the African-American past and some of the contemporary dilemmas of the present."
—Publishers Weekly
"During WWII, two African-American musicians are captured by the Nazis in Paris and imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp, in the latest from the author of Sugar and Loving Donovan."
—Publishers Weekly, Spring 2016 Announcements
"McFadden's writing breaks the heart—and then heals it again. The perspective of a black man in a concentration camp is unique and harrowing and this is a riveting, worthwhile read."
—Toronto Star
"I've finally discovered a writer I should've been reading for years!...McFadden has a gift for placing her characters into the vivid history swirling around them, but keeping their emotional experience front and center in the story. There's a Zora Neale Hurston sensibility to the way she does that."
—MPR News, Kerri Miller's Must-Read
"A moving epic that follows the life of one man, Harlan Elliott, The Book of Harlan weaves real-life characters from McFadden's own life into a fictionalized story about the treatment of black people during the Holocaust."
—Deep South Magazine
"From Macon, Georgia, to Harlem, and from the City of Lights to Weimar, Germany, Bernice L. McFadden's latest novel follows Harlan and his friend Lizard, two black musicians who are captured by the Nazis during WWII and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. The Book of Harlan blends family history and world history, fact and fiction, to revisit a haunting chapter from the past."
—Hello Beautiful, #BlackWomenRead: 17 Books by Black Women You Need In Your Life This Spring
"Hidden history comes alive in this novel about an African American man from Georgia who became a musician in Harlem, played in Paris, lived through the horrors of the Buchenwald concentration camp, and spent his final years in the turmoil of the 1960s."
—World Wide Work
The Book of Harlan opens with the courtship of Harlan's parents and his 1917 birth in Macon, Georgia. After his prominent minister grandfather dies, Harlan and his parents move to Harlem, where he eventually becomes a professional musician. When Harlan and his best friend, trumpeter Lizard Robbins, are invited to perform at a popular cabaret in the Parisian enclave of Montmartre—affectionately referred to as "The Harlem of Paris" by black...
Reviews-
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April 11, 2016
McFadden (Gathering of Waters) centers this novel on Harlan Elliott, a musician who faces extreme hardship. The book begins in 1917 in Macon, Georgia, where Emma grows up with her friend Lucille, and eventually meets her future husband, Sam. Emma and Sam conceive Harlan and shuttle to different cities so Emma can attempt to follow her dreams of being a musician; Harlan is raised by his grandparents until his grandfather, a respected minister in Macon, dies. He is then taken by his parents to be raised in Harlem and mentored by Lucille, a successful blues singer who somewhat recalls Alberta Hunter. Harlan finds women, music between a guitar's strings, and marijuana during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s. As he begins to gain attention as a musician with his friend Lizard, they are invited to perform in the Parisian enclave of Montmartre as tensions are rising in Europe. Unfortunately, bad timing and naïveté lead to Harlan and Lizard being thrown into Buchenwald, one of Germany's concentration camps. After Harlan faces the horrors of Buchenwald, his life becomes a series of struggles, not just in Germany but back in America as well. Through this character portrait of Harlan, McFadden has constructed a vivid, compelling narrative that makes historical fiction an accessible, literary window into the African-American past and some of the contemporary dilemmas of the present.
