Harlem Rhapsody
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR!
“A gripping narrative, don't miss this historical fiction about the woman who kicked off the Harlem Renaissance.”—People Magazine
“A page turner and history lesson at once, Harlem Rhapsody reminds us that our stories are our generational wealth.”—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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Murray (coauthor of The First Ladies) delivers a winning portrait of Harlem Renaissance figure Jessie Redmon Faust (1882–1961). Jessie moves to Harlem from Washington, D.C., in 1919 to serve as literary editor of NAACP magazine The Crisis, helmed by W.E.B. Du Bois. Faust is thrilled at the opportunity to provide a venue for Black writers and helps to make stars out of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen, but she risks her career and the magazine's reputation by having a secret affair with Du Bois, who is married. Murray illuminates Faust's steadfast and selfless work, showing how she labored behind the scenes to bring others to prominence while putting her own dream of writing a novel on hold, a sacrifice made bitter when she watches Du Bois receive the acclaim. Murray doesn't shy away from her characters' flaws, examining for instance Du Bois's disdain for uneducated Black people and Faust's mother's well-meaning if unhelpful chastening ("You are neither white nor a man, and so you'll be judged harshly and unfairly, even as you perform well"). Historical fiction fans will want to snatch this up.
