Primarily set in Chicasetta, a town in Georgia, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers traces the lineage of an Afro-Indigenous family in a stunning generational saga across two centuries that reads as a love letter to Black girlhood and Black womanhood.

At the forefront of this lyrical novel is Ailey Pearl Garfield, whose story begins with her earliest memories as a young girl, tracing through her adolescent and collegiate years to her mid-thirties in the early 2000s. While following Ailey's early life, Jeffers interjects in non-linear time the stories of the women in her lineage. Interwoven are spiritual elements; the women in Ailey's lineage are clairvoyant and often (unknowingly) communicate with ancestors through dreams. Jeffers anchors each chapter with words from the great scholar and activist W. E. B. Dubois, whose influence she discusses further in the Archival Coda.

It is so so difficult to give justice to a book this beautiful in a review. Jeffers's novel is a story of heartbreak and resilience, and the processing of generational and familial trauma. This is a very large novel (the physical book sits at 811 pages!), yet I am able to easily identify my favorite component- the story of Ailey's older sister, Lydia, which completely broke me, and I cried heavily during her chapters.

I am so grateful to have read this work, which will stay with me for a very long time, and I so so highly recommend it.

I interviewed this author for my weekly book broadcast/podcast. It will air the week of publication, in late August. Jeffers has written a wonderful book, a rich, engrossing portrait of a family from the earliest colonial days to the 1980's, told through the stories of a compelling cast of characters, mostly strong women.

WEB Du Bois wow! What a breathtaking novel that takes us back to the Civil War and all the unjust for families in the colonial times and slave trades. It took me a little longer to get through, but I enjoyed every bit of it.

This was a fantastic multi generational story and family saga. Full of historical details, it was enthralling and I couldn’t put it down.

This beautifully written multi-generational saga follows Ailey, the youngest member of the family from her childhood through adulthood and alternates with the story of her family starting with her Native American ancestors in Georgia through the present day.

Difficult to read and almost painful at times, but nonetheless an important and powerful read. Highly recommend for all library collections

I found this to be a difficult read but also very powerful and compelling. It’s a coming of age/family saga story spanning from Colonial times to present day. The sexual assaults were awful and, thankfully, not terribly graphic. As horrific as the story itself was at times, the author found such beautiful words to tell it. Overall, this was a good read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

A sweeping story of a young woman Ailey trying to find her place and her ancestor's stories that make up her rich heritage and multi- racial background. In beautiful prose (which we would expect from the author's previous poetry) we jump from Ailey and present day back and forth to stories of her genetic pool and all the horrible conditions in which they lived and their joys. This weighty tome spans from Colonial slavery to present day. Jumping from many characters back and forth did take me some time to follow but it feels very lyrical and once you adjust to the rhythm it gets easier. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC! I was intrigued by the cover and the title. I started off thinking this was going to be a lot like Roots, chronicling a branch of a family captured and stolen from Africa and shipped to America and enslaved on a plantation. Like Roots, it is a family saga and is about a family that was enslaved, but it jumps around the tree creating a framework that works forward and backward at the same time. It also begins with the story of an Indigenous Creek family, unlike Roots which starts in Africa. It was a lengthy read and I had a lot going on and I didn’t have a lot of time to read in a row so often had to think about the family relations and whose story was being told. Easy to pick up, and hard to put down. I will be thinking about this one for a while.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

A coming of age story. Interspersed throughout are the stories of ancestors and races of people. The author does give you a trigger warning at the start of the novel. I can see this fascinating, one sitting read become a mini series or movie saga.

Job well done!

Read if you: Want a brilliantly told epic story of a young Black woman's ancestry.

Readers should know that there are several detailed (but not overly explicit) scenes of rape, incest, and child sexual abuse.

Readers may be a bit bewildered by the beginning of the story and where everything ties in. Trust the author's process! It will all tie in together.

I don't always enjoy historical fiction stories with a contemporary main character. More often than not, I find the contemporary character's storyline not nearly as compelling or fleshed-out as the historical aspect. Ailey's personal struggles, coming-of-age, tragedies, and triumphs were the highlights of the story.

Librarians/booksellers: Purchase for readers who want epic African-American historical stories. This is a long book, but unlike other many similarly long stories, the story rarely drags.

Many thanks to Harper and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Intrigued the first time I saw The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, I knew I wanted to read what should become a modern classic. Framed by quotations from W.E.B. Du Bois, Love Songs reveals the story of Ailey Pearl Garfield, who grew up in the north in the city, with summers spent in Georgia in a small town, and was raised by her mother and a long line of strong women. Ailey traces her ancestry as she grows up, all with DuBois's concept of "Double Consciousness," that all African Americans must understand to survive. This search for her heritage becomes all encompassing and the key to her adult self.

I was gripped from the start by the authentic and poetic writing of Honoree Fannone Jeffers, already an outstanding poet, which is clear in this debut novel. As Jeffers says on her website, "For over twenty years, I've been lifting my voice on issues of black culture, racism, American history and gender through the medium of writing." As a white woman and avid reader of historical fiction and Own Voices fiction, I still do not know how to write about these books, except to say that reading them is both important and a deep dive into some incredible fiction. I can't separate the novel from the voice lifted. I can say it was gripping, well written, wholly engaging, and is now highly recommended. I can't wait to share this book with library patrons, friends and fellow readers.

With The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois, National Book Award-nominated poet, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, transitions to prose with an interesting subtlety to her words, but not to her story. Good grief, is this book long—in length and reading as I found it difficult to move through as Jeffers language and narrative demand attention. Love Songs is a multi-generational family saga with Ailey Garfield at the center of the whirlwind that spirals back and forth through time to explain how Ailey and her family came to be—both physically and spiritually. I can see how difficult editing this book would be as each story and section feels important and emotional, but at some point, the circling back became too much for me. It’s too bad because this is a necessary story to tell and Jeffers writing deserves an audience, but 800 pages is a hard sell under the best of circumstances, and Love Songs is not that. For me, there’s just too many loops back, too much explanation, too many words. It should be noted that Jeffers tackles some very real but difficult subject matters (rape, incest, child abuse) with a quiet straightforwardness, but squeamish readers should be warned. Still, readers willing to take on this book will be rewarded with skilled story-telling and a critical subject.