The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Du Bois

Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
2022

Pre-loved
Good condition
Very minimal wear

Ailey Pearl Garfield, a young Black woman from Georgia, uncovers her family's tangled past as she pursues her own identity and ambitions through college and early adulthood. Interweaving her story with poetic “love songs” that chronicle centuries of her ancestors—spanning slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights era, and beyond—the novel explores how history shapes personal identity. Ailey confronts family secrets, trauma, and resilience as she uncovers her matrilineal roots and grapples with questions of belonging, legacy, and self-determination. Influenced by W.E.B. Du Bois’s concept of “double consciousness,” she seeks clarity about what it means to live authentically in a burdened yet beautiful lineage. Ultimately, the narrative becomes both an intimate coming-of-age and a sweeping historical epic.