This is a story inspired by relatives of Ms. McFadden’s. It is beautifully written.

Harlan started out as a promising musician. He had family that loved him and supported him. After his grandfather died, his parents moved from Macon, Georgia to Harlem. This is when Harlan’s career as a musician really took off. He made friends with a fellow musician called Lizard. The two of them became as close as brothers.

Word got around about the talent these two men had, and soon they were on their way to Paris to perform at the “Harlem of Paris”. However while there Hitler’s armies moved into France. Harlan and Lizard end up in Buchenwald, a notorious concentration camp. McFadden writes of the infamous “witch of Buchenwald” and their encounters with her. Harlan returns a broken man who has to dig deep inside himself for the strength to get on with his life.

While the story itself is that of a hard, cruel life, the writing is at times exquisite. The beginning softly beckons you in --
“No matter what you may have heard about Macon, Georgia – the majestic magnolias, gracious antebellum homes, the bright stars it produced that went on to dazzle the world – if you were Emma Robinson, bubbling with teenage angst and lucid dreaming about silver-winged sparrows gliding over a perfumed ocean, well then, Macon felt less like the promised land and more like a noose.”
I couldn’t help liking Harlan, even as he swaggered from bar to bar, woman to woman. His life was like a rollercoaster with its extreme highs and the rush to the extreme lows. Harlan, despite his faults, was an honorable man. My heart was wrenched each time life slapped him in the face. And I so hoped he would be able each time to shake it off and try again. I wanted life to be gentle to him, but it was not to be.

Another lovely offering --
“Surrendering to the lullaby and goodnight of autumn, the flowers threw down their petals and wilted. The trees, as if ashamed, waited till night before dropping their golden leaves.”

Harlan’s story is that of many black men over the years. Sadly, too much has not really changed over the decades. Harlen’s life will resonate within me for some time.