Murray (“7 Deadly Sins” series) presents an engaging account of an underappreciated yet pivotal figure in literary history. In 1919, high school teacher Jessie Redmon Fauset’s passion for writing captures the attention of W.E.B. Du Bois and secures her a trailblazing job as the first Black woman literary editor at
The Crisis, the NAACP magazine founded by Du Bois. An excited Jessie moves from Washington, DC, to New York City to start the job, but she’s hiding a secret: Du Bois, Jessie’s new boss, has also been her long-distance lover for years. Now that they’re both in Harlem, it will be harder for Jessie and the married Du Bois to keep their affections hidden from everyone. As years pass, Jessie becomes a more and more integral part of The Crisis, especially in cultivating new young writing talents such as a 17-year-old Langston Hughes and a 16-year-old Countee Cullen. But when she finds herself clashing, both professionally and personally, with Du Bois, Jessie is faced with an agonizing choice between her loves.
VERDICT While the historical facts could be more smoothly woven into the flow of the story, this bibliophilic novel will please fans of the bestselling historical novels that Murray coauthored with Marie Benedict (The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies).
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