Victoria Christopher Murray once again shines a light on a Black woman who had a significant impact on history and literature. I knew little about Jessie Redmon Fauset, and her story is fascinating. In the 1900s, it was unheard of for a Black woman to hold a prominent position like assistant editor of The Crisis magazine. The difficult part of her story is her ongoing affair with W.E.B. Du Bois. It frustrated me that she was in such control of her career but not her personal life. There is much to love about this story set in Harlem and the literary greats she developed, from Countee Cullen to Langston Hughes. The story telling , rich history and scandalous love affair kept me glued to the pages!

Harlem Rhapsody follows Jessie Redmon Fauset, who becomes the new literary editor of the preeminent Negro magazine The Crisi working with W.E.B. Du Bois. Under Jessie’s leadership, The Crisis thrives, the writers become notable and magazine subscriptions soar. The two begin an affair but it is complicated due to the fact that Jessie wants to become editor. In the face of overwhelming sexism and racism, Jessie must balance her drive with her desires. However, as she strives to preserve her legacy, she’ll discover the high cost of her unparalleled success.

I did not know who Jessie Redmon Fauset was before reading this. This is shocking to me because my majors in college were history and women's studies. But after reading this book I was able to learn about what an amazing and inspiring woman she was. I really liked this book. It was a little long and did have a bit too much drama for me. But I loved that this book focused on such an important time in history. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am excited to read more by her.

Thank you, Victoria Christopher Murray and Berkley for this ARC of this book!

Jessie Redmon Fauset was referred to, by Langston Hughes, as, "the Midwife of the Harlem Renaissance Literary Movement". She helped so many Negro writers hone and refine their skills. And all the while, she was a writer and poet herself. In, "Harlem Rhapsody", we meet Ms. Fauset in the 1920's when she becomes the literary editor of, "The Crisis", A magazine begun by W.E.B. DuBois. Under her influence the magazine thrives. At the time, it must be noted, that she was also romantically involved with Dr. DuBois.

During the course of this novel we are introduced to all the famous people who live in the Harlem of this time period. Ms.Murray brings all of these people to life in the pages of her novel. One can smell, and hear, and feel all that her many characters do. She has the kind of talent that allows her reader to become so absorbed in her words, they are transported back in time. A fabulous story! A terrific read!

Hands down, this is one of the best books I have reviewed in the many years I have been a member of Book Browse! Not only is the story, plot line, and characters mesmerizing, but the historical education of the Harlem Renaissance was spellbounding. There is so much we don't know until reading such a well-documented novel as this.

This historical fiction was so so good! I was gripped from the beginning and loved learning both more about Harlem and New York City, but also about the Black people behind the scenes who contributed to making the world what it is today.

Jessie Redmon Fauset was a key player in the Harlem Renaissance who has been overlooked for too many years. This is the fictionalized story of her groundbreaking editorial work at W.E.B. DuBois' journal The Crisis and her discovery and mentorship of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, and many other authors who rose to prominence in the 1920s and 1930s. It is also the story of her complicated relationship with W.E.B. Dubois and her struggle with balancing her personal and professional lives. That is the central conflict of the book and the author does a wonderful job of bringing that conflict to life with her sympathetic characters. While the writing can be a little stilted at times, the focus on life in Harlem in the 1920s and the brilliance that was Jessie Redmon Faucet makes for very eye-opening reading. I definitely recommend the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/5

I always love when I learn something new from an historical fiction novel. I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole after reading and learn even more about The Crisis magazine and more importantly Jessie Fauset.

A major critique I have is that I wish I would have learned more about Jessie Fauset as a person while reading the book but it focused more on her relationship / affair with DuBois. That can make for a juicy and entertaining read but it was taking up too many pages.

Overall I liked it. I want more stories told in this era of black American history.


**Thanks to Berkley / Random House & NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review**

Victoria Christopher Murrays latest book was a page turner which brought the relationship between Jessie Redmon Fauset. and W. E. B. Du Bois
to life. It is an amazing read and will be a great book club book.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this historical fiction novel about Jessie Redmon Fauset, her work, and her relationship with W.E.B. DuBois.

I have read both books that Victoria Christopher Murray wrote with Marie Benedict, but this is the first solo effort of hers that I’ve read. Unfortunately, I wasn’t totally impressed.
I love historical fiction that introduces me to people I wasn’t aware of. Jessie Fauset definitely is someone I’m glad I “got to know”. A brilliant woman, she became the literary editor of The Crisis, the preeminently black magazine of the early 20th Century. In that position, she came into contact with many of the black writers of the day, including a young Langston Hughes. In fact, Hughes called her “the literary midwife” of the New Negro Movement. I enjoyed the chapters that focused on the magazine and her work there. This was a poignant reminder that in earlier days, poetry held a much more esteemed position than it does today.
She was also the mistress of W.E.B. Du Bois. While I recognize it was a big part of her life, I would have liked a lot less emphasis on their affair. This reads like a romance novel. It felt like half the book either involved their time together or her thinking about their romance. And then another whole section involved how upset her family was about the affair. Du Bois comes across as one more important man with “a zipper problem” as my mother would say. In her Author’s Note, Murray indicated she struggled with how much focus to place on the affair. I believe she could have gotten her point across, which was that without the affair, she would never have had her job and discovered so many of these young authors, without spending so much time on their time together.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this book.

Murray tells the story of an overlooked but incredibly important personal in the Harlem Renaissance, Jesse Redmond Fauset. Murray explores Fauset’s life, presenting plausible motivation for her choices. A great historical fiction in an area that many of us are ignorant about.

As someone who has deep personal ties to Harlem, NY this story holds a special place in my heart. This story was a joy to read learning about all the amazing Black writers of the Harlem Renaissance. This story is a beautiful ode to those literary geniuses. I will say there were times when I found myself angry with the FMC but I learned to understand her better by the end. Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing

_Harlem Rhapsody_ by Victoria Christopher Murray is a character-centered historical fiction read with authentic characters and historical details of early 1900s Harlem. It follows writer and editor Jessie Redmon Fauset and her career in Harlem as the literary editor for W.E.B. Du Bois’ magazine _The Crisis_, which features the time’s leading and emerging black writers. Included are historical figures such as Langston Hughes, along with the romantic and business relationship between Fauset and Du Bois. An interesting read for historical fiction fans that sheds light on an important editor and writer of the Harlem Renaissance.

Thank you NetGalley (@netgalley) for the digital ARC. I was beyond excited to read this and waited for a while to be approved for the e-galley.

Jessie Redmon Fauset has often been called the literary midwife of the Harlem Renaissance. As an adult, I’ve delved into the works of many writers from this transformative era—names we now cherish for their remarkable contributions to literature and culture. This historical fiction account offers an imagined, yet deeply rooted portrayal of Jessie’s life, centered around her career as a literary editor for The Crisis and her mentorship of emerging talent. The story brings to light the vibrant, complex world she navigated, though it left me wishing for an even greater focus on her professional legacy.

One of the central storylines is the relationship between Jessie and W.E.B. Du Bois. While I understand, especially after reading the author’s note, why this dynamic plays a significant role—Du Bois undoubtedly influenced her life and career—Jessie’s achievements were her own. She shaped The Crisis into the literary beacon it became, through sheer hard work, dedication, and her unyielding passion for the arts.

What captivated me most were glimpses of her interactions with the writers she nurtured. Meeting a young Nella Larsen in these pages and imagining their friendship was a joy. Scenes where Jessie collaborates with Larsen, or the imagined exchanges they might have had, were delightful but too few. The same can be said for moments with other Renaissance greats: a shy Countee Cullen, a confident Claude McKay, the enigmatic Jean Toomer, and, of course, Langston Hughes. These fleeting portrayals teased at what could have been an even richer narrative. Had the book placed more emphasis on these relationships and the intersections of Jessie’s life with these figures, it could have been a masterpiece for lovers of Harlem Renaissance history.

Jessie’s own creative journey also deserved more space. Her time in Paris, stepping away from The Crisis to focus on her writing, felt like a missed opportunity to explore her growth as an artist. How transformative those years must have been! A deeper dive into her genius and her struggles as a Black woman author during this period could have allowed readers to truly celebrate her legacy without Du Bois overshadowing her narrative.

Du Bois’ presence, while significant, became frustrating for me. By the time Jessie decisively ends their romantic relationship—well over halfway through the book—it felt too late. His influence on her story could have been more of a backdrop, a footnote to her accomplishments, rather than the driving force of the plot.

Overall, the book was an okay read. If you’re new to Jessie Redmon Fauset, I recommend starting with her novel There is Confusion before picking up this book. Reading it first gives helpful context and makes certain aspects of this novel more meaningful in hindsight. While this fictional account didn’t fully satisfy my appetite, it did stir my admiration for Jessie’s legacy. I’ll certainly be seeking out more of her work, eager to explore the brilliance of the woman who helped define an era.

I have never been so frustrated with a protagonist.

Jessie Fauset isn't a protagonist you hate, but she is one that seems to lack morals and common sense. However, I can tell that the author used that to make the woman more human, and perhaps more relatable to some. When I first read the synopsis, I had hopes for more yet the novel centers on Fauset's affair with the older and married W.E.B. Dubois. What were my hopes? That there would finally be a novel about a real Black female poet. Of course, it's a novel so I know things would be editorialized, but I wanted to know more about her. To my dismay, the novel is centered on her affair not her work. In fact, there is probably more on the page about DuBois than there is Fauset.

All that being said, what was truly enthralling is being able to see the names of so many Black historical figures, and imagining them in the time and place of the Harlem Renaissance. Just picturing some of these big names, names that I grew up reading and hearing about, thinking of them as just ordinary people was pretty interesting.

Victoria Christopher Murray does a wonderful job with description and setting the scene; the reader can truly feel like they are in the hotel rooms and the magazine offices. I also appreciate that Fauset's relationship with her family is clearly evident in the novel. We see Fauset as an educated woman who knows what's morally right and yet chooses not to do it. Much to the chagrin of her stepmother and older sister. What frustrated me is that it appears Fauset is so easily cajoled into believing DuBois' musings and speeches that his wife wouldn't care about the affair and that he's in love. While I know this is based on a true story, I would have appreciated Jessie being even a tad more leery about continuing her relationship, or thinking it over more. And, as I stated earlier, some mention of her life as a writer, not just as an employee and lover of W.E.B. DuBois would have been appreciated. But the author does a great job of making all the figures in the book realistic and relatable and that's something that is a defining factor of a good author.

To be honest, perhaps it is because my expectations of this novel were so high that I am disappointed. I understood that the affair would be in the book, just not that it was the only plot point. I got so frustrated that I had to put it down for a while, read another work, and pick it back up. Twice. However, this could be because the genre wasn't a good fit for me. So if you are into romance, this may be a great book for you.

Most people in North America have probably at least heard the name W. E. B. Dubois. In the early twentieth century, DuBois—the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard—published and spoke extensively about his vision of equality through education. In particular, he edited “The Crisis,” the monthly magazine of the NAACP, while also writing such classics as “The Souls of Black Folk.”

But if Dubois is well known, the same cannot be said these days of Jessie Redmon Fauset, the central character of Murray’s “Harlem Rhapsody.” In her day, Fauset—who held a degree from Cornell as well as a master’s from Penn and a certificate from the Sorbonne in Paris—worked as the literary editor of “The Crisis” and its associated children’s magazine “The Brownies Book” while writing the first of what would become four acclaimed novels. She fostered such stars of the Harlem Renaissance as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Zora Neale Hurston. She was also romantically involved with W. E. B. Dubois, a reality that Murray uses to humanize a heroine who is in every other respect truly remarkable.

I have to admit that last effort doesn’t quite succeed for me; despite a genuine sympathy for Jessie, I eventually became frustrated by her slowness in recognizing that she was on a self-destructive path. But in every other respect this story about the origins of so many gifted literary artists, including Jessie Fauset herself, pulled me in and kept me reading to the very last page.

My interview with this author on New Books in Historical Fiction (link below) will appear in March 2025.

This has the makings of a book that could be a favorite for me- I love historical fiction, and the Harlem Renaissance is my favorite setting and time period within the genre. While the setting, story concept and real-life characters of Harlem Rhapsody are 5 stars, for me the execution was more like 3 stars. The actual writing just wasn’t super compelling to me. But the true stories are!

So, I have to emphasize how glad I am that this book introduced me to Jessie Fauset and inspired me to learn more about her. She’s like the Berry Gordy of the literary world during the Harlem Renaissance! This novel is heavily centered on her affair with W.E.B. DuBois, and I wanted to go beyond that. I found myself racing through the book only because I wanted to go find additional sources to learn more about her career and writing.

I understand that her affair with W.E.B. DuBois really happened, and that people are complicated, but the almost incessant focus on this just didn't do anything for me or the story. And since we're taking the liberty to color in fiction the lines of real life, did every meeting about great literary work and every accomplishment Jessie made have to conclude with "Will's" invitation to a hotel room? Not really.

I found the constant use of specific days/dates unnecessary - Sunday, December 1, 1920, then Monday, December 2, 1920, vs just saying December 1920. It feels like a small thing to note, but this was the start of every chapter, and I started thinking the detailed timeline was really going to mean something, but it didn't- and on top of that, Victoria' Christopher Murray was completely altering the real-life timeline anyway.

The literary icons who appear in this book, such as Nella Larsen and Langston Hughes, were a true delight especially as they are at the very beginning of their careers and dreaming of the success that we now know they went on to achieve. All of those scenes made me sit up a little straighter in my seat. Like Hughes sharing his idea for Not Without Laughter, a book I love and now want to reread.

So… I love where this book took me, but I didn’t actually love the book on its own.

It's also worth noting that it’s extremely similar in tone, style and themes to The Personal Librarian, so I expect readers who liked or loved that, to enjoy this overall. Thinking of both books, I do appreciate Murray's efforts to highlight real Black women in history that deserve to be more well known.

Ratings
Story Concept 5/5
Quality of Writing 3/5
Pacing 3/5
Plot Development 3/5
Character Development 4/5
Overall Enjoyability 3.5/5


**3.5 stars**

A terrific read! I learned how black writers and journalists broke into the industry through two amazing blacks—a female and a male. The author describes the characters so vividly that about halfway through the book I was angry with the main female character’s life choices. By the end I understood that her choices made the breaks for Black writers possible. The characters in this story are real, making the book more interesting to me.

I am a fan of the Harlem Rennaissance. I am especially interested in literature that details things that went on during that time. This story was a little different than what I was expecting but I enjoyed it the same. I will round up to 4 stars even though I give this 3.5.

The Harlem Renaissance was an explosive period for African American art, music, and literature. W.E.B. Du Bois was a pivotal person in the movement. Jessie Redmon Fauset was equally pivotal in bringing to life the voices of writers such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and others through her position as literary editor for The Crisis magazine. This book brings to life these cultural icons in such a way that I want to do further research on the lives of these literary figures. Highly recommend.