LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 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. To come to terms with her 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. From an early age, she finds herself in a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hurt in her past, 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. Immerse yourself in a celebration of Black womanhood and an epic tale of the stories that span generations.Ī breath-taking debut novel that chronicles the journey of generations of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade to our own tumultuous era.Īiley Pearl Garfield grows up between the City in the north and summers spent in her mother’s small hometown of Chicasetta, Georgia. DuBois, by Honorée Fanonn.One of Barack Obama’s favourite books of the year Small World, by Jonathan Evison: Striving Together.Olga Dies Dreaming, by Xóchitl González: An Incred.Serious trigger warnings here for sexual abuse, pedophilia, and drug addiction.īut it really is as engrossing as Charles says - it's an epic story of America, injustice, racism, the power of knowing and understanding unvarnished history, and the strength of family. You're warned of this with the extensive family tree Jeffers includes at the beginning.Īs good as this is, it's not an easy read from a content standpoint. Both stories are fascinating, and there are a TON of characters. So yes, it's a multi-generational family saga, but told as two separate narratives. It's also the story of Ailey's ancestors, enslaved people on a Georgia plantation. It's a coming of age story of Ailey, a young Black girl growing up in 'the City' (presumably NYC?), and visiting relatives during summers in rural Georgia.

I actually included it on my top 10 of 2021 before I'd even finished it.

Because it was just as engrossing and transformative as he said. So heft, I did, not without some trepidation, frankly. 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.' Du Bois is the kind of book that comes around only once a decade. Ron Charles, the esteemed book critic for the Washington Post and one of my all-time favorite book reviewers, is almost solely responsible for talking me into picking up this 800-page novel.Ĭharles wrote: '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.

Review the love songs of web dubois