Starting my third McFadden book…
Sugar was a book in my readtolearn series and it sparked something in a group of us. Once we finished we knew we needed to read the follow up book, The Bitter Earth. Well, spoiler alert, we loved that one as well so we decided to just continue reading her amazing backlist. Next up is The Book of Harlan.
Summary - During World War II, two African American musicians are captured by the Nazis in Paris and imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp.
The Book of Harlan opens with the courtship of Harlans parents and his 1917 birth in Macon, Georgia. After his prominent minister grandfather dies, Harlan and his parents move to Harlem, where he becomes a musician. Soon, Harlan and his best friend, trumpeter Lizard Robbins, are lured across the Atlantic Ocean to perform at a popular cabaret in the Parisian enclave of Montmartreaffectionately referred to as The Harlem of Paris by [B]lack American musicians.
When the City of Light falls under Nazi occupation, Harlan and Lizard are thrown into Buchenwald, the notorious concentration camp in Weimar, Germany. The experience irreparably changes the course of Harlans life.
Based on exhaustive research and told in McFaddens mesmeric prose, The Book of Harlan skillfully blends the stories of McFaddens familial ancestors with those of real and imagined characters.
I have a feeling this will be a WWII book like none other. There was such an oversaturation of WWII that it takes a unique plot like this one for me to read one. What is your view on WWII books?
Find The Book of Harlan at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
