The Book of Harlan [Paperback]

Bernice L. McFadden has been named theGo On Girl! Book Club's 2018 Author of the Year

WINNER of the2017 American Book Award

WINNER of theNAACP Image Awardfor Outstanding Literary Work (Fiction)

2017Hurston/Wright Legacy AwardNominee (Fiction)!

AWashington PostNotable Book of 2016

McFadden uses the experiences of her own ancestors as loose inspiration for the life of Harlan, whom she portrays from his childhood in Harlem through imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp and his struggles afterward to put his life back together.
--Library Journal

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 center ofThe Book of Harlanis the restorative force that is music.
--Washington Post

McFadden's writing breaks the heart--and then heals it again. The perspective of a black man in a concentration camp is unique and harrowing and this is a riveting, worthwhile read.
--Toronto Star

The Book of Harlanis an incredible read. Bernice McFadden...has created an amazing novel that speaks to lesser known aspects of the African-American experience and illuminates the human heart and spirit. Her spare prose is rich in details that convey deep emotions and draw the reader in. This fictional narrative of Harlan Elliot's life is firmly grounded amidst real people and places--prime historical fiction, and the best book I have read this year.
--Historical Novels Review, Editors' Choice

McFadden packs a powerful punch with tight prose and short chapters that bear witness to key events in early twentieth-century history: both World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Great Migration. Partly set in the Jim Crow South, the novel succeeds in showing the prevalence oflÓ+