The Washington Post: Bernice L. McFadden’s “The Book of Harlan” is simply miraculous


The Book of Harlan” is Bernice L. McFadden’s 10th novel, and it is simply miraculous. Each character in her large cast is vivid, and every turn of event is intriguing. Leaping from Harlem to the Holocaust and back again, it’s also a history lesson with a heart and lots of soul.The story takes off in the 1930s, the heyday of Harlem. Jazz giants like Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith can be found playing and singing at clubs packed night after night. When Emma Robinson, a piano teacher, and her husband, Sam, inherit some money, they take their young son, Harlan, with them from Macon, Ga., to New York to live with successful musician friends in a fancy townhouse. A “Welcome to Harlem” party is thrown for them, “attended by the black glitterati.” Emma cannot believe she’s meeting Jelly Roll Morton and blues guitarist Sylvester Weaver and “talking bread pudding recipes with blues singer Alberta Hunter.”Continue Reading...
Bernice L. McFadden
1 like ·   •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on April 27, 2016 21:25
No comments have been added yet.