The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
The time and care that poet-essayist Jeffers has given us with the detailed families of strong women in her magisterial debut can only be matched by our devotion to her stories as she unveils a Southern history that intertwines Black, Indigenous, and white lives. Her novel stretches back through centuries of violence and injustice, but also love and fortitude, and leads ahead with Ailey Pearl, a young historian determined to bridge the past with her bright future. A powerful, lyrical novel and every page a prize. — Melinda