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The Book of Harlan
Brief Description
The Book of Harlan is a celebrated novel that has received multiple accolades: Winner of a 2017 American Book Award Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Fiction) 2017 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee (Fiction) "Simply miraculous . . . As her saga becomes...
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The Book of Harlan
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Description
The Book of Harlan is a celebrated novel that has received multiple accolades:
- Winner of a 2017 American Book Award
- Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Fiction)
- 2017 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee (Fiction)
"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 centre of The Book of Harlan is the restorative force that is music." - Washington Post
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 American musicians—Harlan jumps at the opportunity, convincing Lizard to join him.
But after the City of Light falls under Nazi occupation, Harlan and Lizard are thrown into Buchenwald—the notorious concentration camp in Weimar, Germany—irreparably changing the course of Harlan's life. Based on exhaustive research and told in McFadden's mesmeric prose, The Book of Harlan skilfully blends the stories of McFadden's familial ancestors with those of real and imagined characters.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781636142838
Publisher: Akashic Books,U.S.
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 07 April 2026
Country: United States
Imprint: Akashic Books,U.S.
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 3.0mm
Width: 15.0mm
Height: 23.0mm
Weight: 198g
Pages: 352
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About the Author
BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of eleven critically acclaimed novels including Sugar, Praise Song for the Butterflies, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors' Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), Glorious, and The Book of Harlan (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction). She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of four awards from the BCALA. Her latest book is her memoir Firstborn Girls.
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