This follow-up to Don't Cry for Me is a powerful story of healing. Anyone who has struggled with loving a flawed person should read this book. I was drawn in from the first chapter and found so many nuggets of wisdom in the protagonist's journey to reconcile his feelings with his strained relationship with his father. Reading Don't Cry for Me is not necessary to enjoy this story, but it give the reader more insight into the history of the main character's parents. I loved this story and highly recommend it.

Thank you publisher for the eGalley!

WOW! This book was so beautiful! I annotated because this book had so many things that I want to revisit in the future. This story is about our MC, Isaac, and his complicated relationship with his father. After losing his father, his therapist suggests for him to write his story from the beginning, and we watch as Isaac comes to fully understand his parents (mainly his father), and his family's history. This book was so moving, and the ending absolutely made me cry.

I didn't realize that this is a parallel story to a previous book, Don't Cry For Me, but I will read it immediately.

I will post my full review on my Instagram page closer to the pub date (january 2025).

THANK YOU to Netgalley and Hanover Square Press for the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Isaac's Song is a powerful, heartfelt story about identity, healing, growth. and forgiveness As a young, gay, black man growing up in the 80's, Isaac constantly desired the love and approval that he never got from his father, until he discovers letters that his father wrote to him right before he passed away. The story takes a look into the complexities of the black father/son relationship and shows how Isaac is able to forgive his father through the stories he writes.

I do have to admit that I had NOT read "Don't Cry for Me" prior to me requesting this ARC. I wasn't even sure if I needed to read it at all.
By the time I got a few pages into "Isaac's Song", I simply knew that I WANTED to. I NEEDED to read Jacob's POV!! I downloaded it immediately.

Everyone needs to read this book! It made me take a closer look into my personal relationship with my own parents and felt so very intimate and personal. I will be purchasing physical copies of BOTH books once Isaac's Song releases on 1/14/25.

I highly recommend!

📚 Every once in awhile a book comes along that is so good you want to shout about it from the rooftops, yet you’re terrified to write a review in fear you’ll never do it justice. This is one of those books. Thank you, sincerely, to @drdanielblack for his beautiful words and to @htpbooks / @htp_hive for the sneak peek. This comes out in January.

📚 If I could describe this book in one word, it would be: intimate. Though this book is fiction, it felt deeply personal and I was honored to read it. The author takes us inside the therapy sessions of Black, gay man who recently lost his estranged father. Needless to say, it’s emotional.

📚 Daniel Black’s writing in this book is masterful. It’s emotional, it’s gripping. He walks us through Isaac’s life and shows us his perspective in such a beautiful way. Of course, this also revolves around one of my favorite life tropes— the moment we realize our parents are not superheroes, they’re just people who have lived past lived and made mistakes. They’re also not always what we have built them up to be in our memories.

📚 Lastly, Isaac is a writer at heart and the short stories and novel he ‘writes’ in this are amazing too! It’s like we get to read a great book, PLUS all these amazing bonus stories.

📚 I often say the thing I love most about
books is being able to see life from a different perspective and this book painted the Black experience for me in a way few other books have. It comes out in January. Add it to your TBR now. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading ‘Don’t Cry For Me’ first, and you may even consider a reread. This is about the same father and son. Will you be adding this to your TBR?

After loving “Don’t Cry for Me,” I was excited to read Isaac’s story. It’s a deep, introspective story of a queer Black man struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and father-son relationship. His therapist, who I loved, plays a central role, encouraging him to write his story. Through this, he uncovers his father’s past trauma and its impact on his views on masculinity. This book prompted deep introspection, making me feel like I was in my own therapy session. Black’s lived experiences and wisdom truly shine through. Highly recommend.

This book was so heartbreakingly beautiful!

This is a complex and raw story of a relationship between a father and his son.

After his father’s passing, Isaac a queer black man finds his voice through words showing us his life growing up in the 1980s.

I can’t recommend this book enough! The writing is so exquisite and vivid full of life. It’s so powerful and you feel it in your heart.

So precious!!

5/5 stars

Thanks to the publisher!!

Such a beautiful and thought provoking story about reconciling relationship while grieving.
Topics that stood out to me:
- Grief
- Blackness in America
- Intersectionality
-What love is - familial, platonic, and romantic
- What it means to be a man
- Generational trauma & generational sacrifice

There’s so much more but it’s such an insightful story with beautifully crafted characters! Thank you so much for this e-arc, I highly enjoyed it and recommended it to my platform!

Daniel Black knows how to ruin you emotionally and this book is no exception. It follows a young queer black man in the 1980s discovering himself. This book shows the complex family relationships that were strained by Isaac's upbringing and his sexuality. Isaac struggles to reconcile his love for his father with how his father treated him.

It is a truly character-driven novel with magical realism elements that focused on the complexity of identity.

This book was heartbreaking in the best way. It was a beautifully complex portrayal of a relationship between a father and his gay son. Isaac is the son who now has to face his true feelings for his father after he has passed. The book takes Isaac back to memories from his past in various therapy sessions throughout the book. It tackles expectations, homophobia, and separating his father from those expectations and a person who was homophobic. There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book, so make sure you check those out before reading. But, this book was overall very moving and I would recommend it to anyone.

If you loved Don't Cry For Me, you'll find Isaac's Song to be equally personal, poignant, and beautiful from start to finish

After the death of his father and with the encouragement of his therapist, Isaac, a queer Black man finds his voice through words showcasing his upbringing, 1980s Chicago, and journey towards forgiveness, self love, and perseverance.

Despite being a quick read, it is a well done novel. It really hit me. And I really loved it. AND I would like the number to his therapist ASAP!

Not only does it do a great job of characterizing Isaac and the lived experience of a queer Black man, but it also gives life to his parents and his ancestors. The writing is vivid. And we, the readers, truly get to walk alongside Isaac through all his actions, thoughts, missteps, etc. in the same way his ancestors walk alongside him. It feels powerful.

Isaac's Song is honest, visceral, and human despite its fictional base. Black continues to deliver and I hope many pick this one up!

Highly recommend (re)reading Don't Cry For Me for a truly impactful experience.

Read For
- Black Stories
- Queer Stories
- Complicated Family Dynamics
- Magical Realism/Spirituality
- Quick, Slower Paced, Character Focused Read

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Beautiful book and Black's writing was amazing. I think this book will be so good for many young queer folks who are looking for acceptance and self discovery because the story of Isaac is one that many can relate to.

"Truth is somewhere between what we feel and what really happened. Neither of those is truth alone."

Heavy, heartfelt, and sometimes harrowing, Isaac's Song tells the story of Isaac, a young gay Black man who, growing up, had a more than tumultuous relationship with his father. Now in therapy, his father dead, Isaac reflects on his childhood and pieces together his own narrative with those of his parents. In examining his past through a fresh lens, he finds contradictions he never would have found otherwise, and Isaac grows to realize that perhaps his father isn't the man he made him out to be. In the end, Isaac's story, while sorrowful, reminds us that the road to recovery is both long and incredibly rewarding.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press for the arc.

Isaac's Song is a poignant and beautifully woven narrative that explores the complexities of love, loss, and the enduring bonds of family. From the very first page, Black's lyrical prose captivates readers, immersing them in the rich emotional landscape of his characters, particularly Isaac, whose journey of self-discovery and healing unfolds against a backdrop of deeply rooted family history. The vividly drawn characters, each with their unique struggles and triumphs, are relatable and deeply human, while the authentic dialogue enhances the emotional resonance of the story. What sets "Isaac's Song" apart is its exploration of personal and cultural identity, as well as the impact of generational trauma, encouraging readers to reflect on their own lives and relationships. Ultimately, this powerful and moving read will linger in the hearts and minds of its audience long after the final page is turned, celebrating the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of love. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeply emotional and thought-provoking journey—highly recommended!

ARC Review Isaac’s Song by Daniel Black
Publication Date: January 14, 2025

This is a story of love and a journey to forgiveness. Isaac grew up with an artistic flair, creativity and a love for writing and the arts. His confidence and joy in his pursuits are gradually crushed out of him by his father and peers as he is told he is a “sissy” and realizes feminine traits are not valued. This launches a lifelong struggle to accept his sexuality, his mannerisms and what it means to be a black man. When his father dies he is shocked by the level of his grief for someone he had been estranged from and seeks out therapy to explore this. The therapist challenges him to write about his childhood and explore his memories and feelings.

Isaac has love and support from his mother and grandmother to counterbalance the negativity of his father and others. “My problem was that I couldn’t change. I didn’t hate who I was, I hated that others hated it. It left me alone, without community, and that is a sad, devastating thing. I wanted a village. I wanted to belong.” As he begins writing about his memories of childhood he begins to recognize that his mother wasn’t perfect and that his father wasn’t a monster. Through beginning to understand his father’s experiences of oppression and the limitations imposed on him he realizes that his father was in an imperfect way trying to protect him from the brutality of the world that a black man will face and didn’t want the world to have an additional avenue to attack him.

“You were born into a society which spelled out, with brutal clarity and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being.” Baldwin “He had birthed a son who had to justify his existence, a boy who would spend a lifetime begging for permission to love, to live”.

These realizations don’t minimize the pain caused by his father but allowed him to begin to heal. He is able to see both his mother and father for the loving, flawed, imperfect people they were and that sometimes its what they meant to do not what they did that counts. “I hate that you didn’t see me, now I know that I didn’t see you either.”

The exploration of the complicated father and son relationship was wonderfully written. It was ugly, and messy, but also loving; not the one dimensional father that you sometimes see. The emotional journey Isaac takes and his final connections with his father allowing forgiveness were so powerful and touching imbued with spirituality.

This is a beautifully written poignant story of grief, longing for connection and the many ways love can be shown. The journey of self reflection to self acceptance and forgiveness is one of the most compelling and authentically written I have read. It will take your breathe away.

This book has definitely made me change my mindset when it comes to forgiveness and the childhood trauma that we often hold on to. Excellent read. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

What an incredible story that deep dives into he complexities of the relationship between a father and a son who came from two very different worlds and the adult realization that in part, those worlds are not so different after all. Isaac’s journey into his ancestry and using that growing knowledge to better understand his father was masterfully done. In addition, we get to go on Isaac’s journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. I loved how real this story was- that forgiveness comes in time and not all at once, and that sometimes loving yourself is a lifelong journey and all you can do is try. This book reads like a memoir and is completely engrossing. I need to go back and read Don’t Cry For Me Now. Add this to your 2025 TBR!

Wow, just wow! I don’t know how I’m only now discovering the writing of @drdanielblack, but if *Isaac’s Song* is any indication of his talent, I will definitely be adding more of his books to my collection. This novel has such a sense of authenticity; I was captivated from the first page and felt compelled to continue on this journey of healing with Isaac.

Dr. Black did a fantastic job of addressing many underlying issues in the community concerning masculinity and sexual identity. I honestly I’m still at a loss for words. I cried multiple times and felt the healing in the final pages of the novel.

This was such a beautiful piece of work! This book was full of raw emotion and honesty! I can't wait to support this book when it launches and I would loooove an audiobook of this art.

Beautiful, tender, raw, this book is inextricably entwined with its predecessor Don’t Cry For Me while distinguishing itself as it instead comes from the perspective of the young person who lives and loves otherwise.

Isaacs song is a deeply moving and gripping story about the exploration of family, forgiveness, and the legacy of generational pain. Black masterfully weaves a tale that forces us to confront the complexities of parental love and human imperfection. A must-read for anyone who’s ever struggled to reconcile their past with their present .
As children we judge our parents harshly, often times sitting through therapy sessions where we blame them for how they parent and even the choices that we make. But as parents we hope to break generational curses, gentle parenting our children, hoping that our children will use a different set of rulers on which to measure us. Black does a great job of presenting the African American Queer experience from the viewpoint of a black man. Isaac who is queer and has struggled with his identity, half the time embracing it and the other half shunning it, must come to terms with the conflicting emotions the death of his father brings him. He’s confronted with reliving and examining the way his dad made him feel during his childhood and adulthood. No longer allowed to blame his father for his decisions he must confront head on his feelings and the reasons behind the decisions he has made. This book made me weep several different times. I love how Mr. Black humanizes, Isaacs father, many times softening his sharp edges and shaping the narrative as to why he operated the way that he did. This book is a must read for anybody who has had to reconcile their past with their present or has had to learn to forgive their parents and themselves.