©2025 Fable Group Inc.
4.0 

Glorious

By Bernice L. McFadden
Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden digital book - Fable

Why read on Fable?

Discover social reading

Chat inside the ebook with emojis, comments and more

Annotate with notes, tabs, and highlights

Share or keep your notes private with our annotation features

Support the World Literacy Foundation

We donate 20% of every book sale to help children learn to read

Publisher Description

Award-winning novelist Bernice McFadden's highly anticipated new historical novel set amidst the Harlem Renaissance.

Glorious was a finalist for the 2011 NAACP Image Award for Fiction.

“McFadden’s lively and loving rendering of New York hews closely to the jazz-inflected city of myth. . . . McFadden has a wonderful ear for dialogue, and her entertaining prose equally accommodates humor and pathos.” —New York Times Book Review

“Bernice L. McFadden’s novel Glorious, which starts with a bang-up prologue, has a strong main character (based in part on Zora Neale Hurston), hard-driving prose, and historic sweep of several decades, including the years of the Harlem Renaissance, which has always fascinated me.” —Jane Ciabattari, National Book Critics Circle President

Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights era. Blending fact and fiction, Glorious is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and ultimately revival offers a candid and true portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.

It is a novel informed by the question that is the title of Langston Hughes’s famous poem Harlem: "What happens to a dream deferred?" Based on years of research, this heart-wrenching fictional account is given added resonance by factual events coupled with real and imagined larger-than-life characters. Glorious is an audacious exploration into the nature of self-hatred, love, possession, ego, betrayal, and, finally, redemption.

53 Reviews

4.0
“Bernice McFadden writes historical fiction. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction because I learn so much when I read it. After reading Glorious, I was in awe by Ms. McFadden and her writing style. Bernice McFadden has a way with her words. She lets them come to life on paper. When I began reading the novel, I remember emailing Ms. McFadden on Facebook letting her know how much I was enjoying Glorious. At that point I had only read the prologue. I was mesmerized by each sentence. The stage was set during the Jim Crow, Harlem Renaissance & Civil Rights era. If you know anything about these eras you know that it was hard for African-Americans during that time. Let me warn you, Ms. McFadden address the issue of homosexuality, bisexuality, racism, love, lies, betrayal & redemption. Therefore, there are various words and language use in the story that isn't suited for tween or teens. The story tells of Easter Venetta Barlett,an aspiring author and her journey from childhood to adulthood. Her journey begins in her hometown of Waycross, GA and takes her across various cities in the United States; all to bring her back to Waycross, GA as an adult. Easter has to deal with the love that she has for another woman but the love wasn't returned the same way. That is just one of the stumbling blocks she had to face. As Easter migrated to various cities, she met and became friends with many different people, actual and aesthetic. When Easter left Waycross, she left with every intention of never returning. She never stayed in one place long until she moved to Harlem. You will have to read the book to understand what brought her back to Waycross, GA. Throughout the pages, I cried, got angry, laughed and cried some more. When an author can do this to me, they have a craft like no other. Ms. McFadden states, "I write to breath life back into memory to remind African-Americans of our rich and textured history." In my opinion, Ms. McFadden is the "Stephen King" of African American authors.”

About Bernice L. McFadden

BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of ten critically acclaimed novels including Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors’ Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), Glorious, and The Book of Harlan (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction). She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of four awards from the BCALA. Praise Song for the Butterflies is her latest novel.

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Error Icon
Save to a list
0
/
30
0
/
100
Private List
Private lists are not visible to other Fable users on your public profile.
Notification Icon
Fable uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB