The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Oprah’s Book Club Novel
Instant New York Times Best Seller
An Oprah Book Club Selection
"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)
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize 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 National Book Award-nominated poet makes her fiction debut with this 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.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Oprah’s Book Club Novel
Powerful. Provocative. A breathtaking novel of family, history, and hope.
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is an epic tale that follows the lives of Ailey Pearl Garfield and her descendants, a family of Black women who must overcome hardships and challenges to survive and thrive. The novel spans more than a century of American history, from the Civil War to the present day, and explores themes of racial identity, class, and gender.
At the center of the story is Ailey Pearl, a young girl born into slavery in Georgia in 1898. Ailey Pearl escapes slavery and moves North, where she meets and marries a man named Robert. Together, they raise a family and struggle to make a living in a world that is often hostile to Black people.
As the years go by, Ailey Pearl's descendants face their own challenges. Her daughter, Cassie, struggles with poverty and discrimination, while her granddaughter, Melody, must navigate the complexities of race and class in the modern world.
Despite the challenges they face, the women of the Garfield family remain resilient. They draw strength from their love for each other and their determination to overcome adversity. Through their stories, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois offers a powerful and moving exploration of the Black experience in America.
Praise for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
- "A masterpiece of storytelling." —The New York Times
- "A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the Black experience in America." —The Washington Post
- "A powerful and moving novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it." —Entertainment Weekly
Honoree Fanonne Jeffers is a poet, essayist, and novelist. Her work has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, and she has received numerous awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
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