Genre Fiction
![Honoree Fanonne Jeffers - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_honoree_fanonne_jeffers.jpg)
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Oprah's Book Club Novel
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • A FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE
A Washington Post Best 10 Books of the Year • A Booklist Best 10 Novels of the Year • One of Kirkus' 100 Best Novels of the Year • BookPage's Best Fiction Book of the Year • Oprah Daily's Top 20 Books of the Year • A Parade Pick
An Instant Washington Post, USA Today, and Indie Bestseller
"Epic…. I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family…. A combination of historical and modern story-I've never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me." -Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Book Club Pick
An Indie Next Pick • A New York Times Book Everyone Will Be Talking About • A People 5 Best Books of the Summer • A Good Morning America 15 Summer Book Club Picks • An Essence Best Book of the Summer • A Time 11 Best Books of the Month • A Washington Post 10 Books of the Month • A CNN Best Book of the Month • A Ms. Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Book Page Writer to Watch • A USA Today Book Not to Miss • A Chicago Tribune Summer Must-Read • An Observer Best Summer Book • A Millions Most Anticipated Book • A Ms. Book of the Month • A Well-Read Black Girl Book Club Pick • A BiblioLifestyle Most Anticipated Literary Book of the Summer • A Deep South Best Book of the Summer • Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
The 2020 NAACP Image Award-winning poet makes her fiction debut with this National Book Award-longlisted, magisterial epic-an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer-that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era.
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called "Double Consciousness," a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois's words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans-the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers-Ailey carries Du Bois's Problem on her shoulders.
Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother's family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that's made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women-her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries-that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.
To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family's past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors-Indigenous, Black, and white-in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story-and the song-of America itself.
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • A FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE
A Washington Post Best 10 Books of the Year • A Booklist Best 10 Novels of the Year • One of Kirkus' 100 Best Novels of the Year • BookPage's Best Fiction Book of the Year • Oprah Daily's Top 20 Books of the Year • A Parade Pick
An Instant Washington Post, USA Today, and Indie Bestseller
"Epic…. I was just enraptured by the lineage and the story of this modern African-American family…. A combination of historical and modern story-I've never read anything quite like it. It just consumed me." -Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Book Club Pick
An Indie Next Pick • A New York Times Book Everyone Will Be Talking About • A People 5 Best Books of the Summer • A Good Morning America 15 Summer Book Club Picks • An Essence Best Book of the Summer • A Time 11 Best Books of the Month • A Washington Post 10 Books of the Month • A CNN Best Book of the Month • A Ms. Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A Book Page Writer to Watch • A USA Today Book Not to Miss • A Chicago Tribune Summer Must-Read • An Observer Best Summer Book • A Millions Most Anticipated Book • A Ms. Book of the Month • A Well-Read Black Girl Book Club Pick • A BiblioLifestyle Most Anticipated Literary Book of the Summer • A Deep South Best Book of the Summer • Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
The 2020 NAACP Image Award-winning poet makes her fiction debut with this National Book Award-longlisted, magisterial epic-an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer-that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era.
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called "Double Consciousness," a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois's words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans-the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers-Ailey carries Du Bois's Problem on her shoulders.
Ailey is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother's family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that's made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women-her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries-that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.
To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family's past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors-Indigenous, Black, and white-in the deep South. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story-and the song-of America itself.
Editorial Reviews
"Whatever must be said to get you to heft this daunting debut novel by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, I'll say, because The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is the kind of book that comes around only once a decade. Yes, at roughly 800 pages, it is, indeed, a mountain to climb, but the journey is engrossing, and the view from the summit will transform your understanding of America. . . . With the depth of its intelligence and the breadth of its vision, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is simply magnificent." -- Ron Charles, Washington Post
"Triumphant. . . . Quite simply the best book that I have read in a very, very long time. . . . An epic tale of adventure that brings to mind characters you never forget: Meg Murry in A Wrinkle in Time, Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn. . . . The historical archives of Black Americans are too often filled with broad outlines of what happened. . . . One of the many triumphs of Love Songs is how Jeffers transforms this large history into a story that feels specific and cinematic in the telling. . . . Just as Toni Morrison did in Beloved, Jeffers uses fiction to fill in the gaping blanks of those who have been rendered nameless and therefore storyless. . . . A sweeping, masterly debut." -- Veronica Chambers, New York Times Book Review
"Stunning." -- People
"This sweeping, brilliant and beautiful narrative is at once a love song to Black girlhood, family, history, joy, pain . . . and so much more. In Jeffers's deft hands, the story of race and love in America becomes the great American novel." -- Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone and Another Brooklyn
"A vibrant and tender coming-of-age novel. Ailey Pearl Garfield is a young girl reckoning with what it means to be a Black woman in America…. [Ailey's] journey features complex and intimate narratives of love and heartbreak from her family's two centuries in the American South, giving her not only insight into her family's complicated past, but also the tools to imagine her own future." -- Time
"[A] generational magnum opus." -- O, the Oprah Magazine
"This ambitious debut novel by a National Book Award-nominated poet chronicles the journey of an American family from the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our present day, and one Black woman's coming-to-terms with her legacy." -- Barbara VanDenburgh, USA Today
"A staggering and ambitious saga…. Themes of family, class, higher education, feminism, and colorism yield many rich layers. Readers will be floored." -- Publishers Weekly, sta...
"Triumphant. . . . Quite simply the best book that I have read in a very, very long time. . . . An epic tale of adventure that brings to mind characters you never forget: Meg Murry in A Wrinkle in Time, Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn. . . . The historical archives of Black Americans are too often filled with broad outlines of what happened. . . . One of the many triumphs of Love Songs is how Jeffers transforms this large history into a story that feels specific and cinematic in the telling. . . . Just as Toni Morrison did in Beloved, Jeffers uses fiction to fill in the gaping blanks of those who have been rendered nameless and therefore storyless. . . . A sweeping, masterly debut." -- Veronica Chambers, New York Times Book Review
"Stunning." -- People
"This sweeping, brilliant and beautiful narrative is at once a love song to Black girlhood, family, history, joy, pain . . . and so much more. In Jeffers's deft hands, the story of race and love in America becomes the great American novel." -- Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone and Another Brooklyn
"A vibrant and tender coming-of-age novel. Ailey Pearl Garfield is a young girl reckoning with what it means to be a Black woman in America…. [Ailey's] journey features complex and intimate narratives of love and heartbreak from her family's two centuries in the American South, giving her not only insight into her family's complicated past, but also the tools to imagine her own future." -- Time
"[A] generational magnum opus." -- O, the Oprah Magazine
"This ambitious debut novel by a National Book Award-nominated poet chronicles the journey of an American family from the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our present day, and one Black woman's coming-to-terms with her legacy." -- Barbara VanDenburgh, USA Today
"A staggering and ambitious saga…. Themes of family, class, higher education, feminism, and colorism yield many rich layers. Readers will be floored." -- Publishers Weekly, sta...
Readers Top Reviews
Jane Sujer
Showed the historical aspect of the white man taking from the Indigenous people and their treatment of African Americans. Also the importance of the colour of one's skin! Excellently tied the past to the present through flashback chapters!
biz5thCarolyn LLOREN
This is a very ambitious novel - an attempt to tell 300 years of a Georgia family's history, culminating in a modern Black woman's struggles and growth. The historical portions of the book trace the blending of Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans in one family, focusing mainly on the enslaved and, Postbellum, "Black" members of that family. The description of slave life is unflinching. These parts of the book are excellent. The modern sections center largely around one character, although we also get detours into the lives of her mother and sister. While I'm an old white guy and thus can't speak to the accuracy of the portrayal of black life, the interactions of Black characters with each other, as well as with whites, seem perceptive and realistic. The pitfalls of navigating a white world are authentic (and often humorous). Sections of the book veer too much into Romance novel territory for my taste, lengthening the book without adding much. And while it is an unabashed woman-centered book, many of the male characters are not all that convincingly drawn. Indeed, one of the main male characters is extremely close to the Magical Negro stereotype, existing mainly to dispense wisdom and grace to the women of his family. The writing is outstanding - elegant and evocative but still incisive and engaging. The dialogue between characters (and the way one character's speech patterns change depending on the race and class of her audience) is very well written.
S. Hoyt
So far I am loving the stories of these various interrelated people! I will have more to say when I have finished the book. But I did want to comment on the beautiful quality of this hardcover book. I love the deckle edges of the pages, the print and how the book lays open when I read it! Some people who are not familiar with a deckle edge are commenting that they think the book is poor quality. They are in fact mistaken!
Shelliep
I'm in love with this book! I'm only a quarter of the way through and I have to force myself to put it down. I must say, I'm astounded by the negative reaction people are having to the edges on this book. I love it! It makes the book feel more like a personal journal rather than a mass-produced book. Honestly, I'm even considering shelving this book (when I'm done) to show off the edges and I have never considered this with any other book. This is a beautiful book with an amazing story.
kathleen g
While Ailey in the present is the narrative voice that weaves in and out of this epic novel, it her ancestors that give it its beating heart. Set in Chicasetta, Georgia, it's the story of a mixed race family that endured horrible conditions, abuse, and slavery to ultimately triumph with the successes of the women who survived and thrived. These women will linger in your mind. Readers should know that assault and abuse are a recurrent thread. Ailey, by contrast with the enslaved women, will seem annoying in spots (I found her college years superfluous) but she's the one who pulls them together. This is an impressive and immersive experience. It's a big book by any measure but the writing is just wonderful. Don't be surprised if you, like me, find yourself a big confused as to how some people relate to others- that's the nature of a big family so just let go of the need to make specific connections and know that it will all be clear in the end. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. This is a worthy read and one I highly recommend.
