A few weeks ago I won my friend Missy’s book giveaway (I’ve known Missy since we were about 12, I think) and Akashic Books (a local publisher – they happen to be in Brooklyn – did you know I still haven’t been to Brooklyn? I keep getting made fun of for that…) sent me a copy of Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden. Glorious was a quick and easy read and I really enjoyed it. And did I mention it was autographed?
From Akashic: Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights era. Blending fact and fiction, Glorious is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and ultimately revival offers a candid and true portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.
Missy does a much better review than I could ever do, so I encourage you to check it out here. I will just say that I thought the book was great and I breezed through it in a few hours. I really like historical fiction and I haven’t read many books with African American heroines (I don’t know why, maybe there just aren’t that many?) so this was really new and interesting for me. I’d highly recommend it.
I’m excited to check out more books from Akashic too; I like supporting small and local companies that are not evil and corporate.
What have you read lately? (I feel like I ask this question a lot – but I love hearing the new responses.)