Praise Song for the Butterflies

by Bernice L. McFadden

  Chapter 3

  In 1916, Sam Elliott arrived in Macon on the heels of Lucille’s triumphant return. Born and bred in Louisville, Kentucky; the color of a newly minted penny; lean and easy on the eyes with a mouthful of strong white teeth that never failed to startle a smile out of women and even some men—Sam was a carpenter by trade, quiet and inconspicuous. He could be in a room filled with people, and the next day, not one person could recall him having been there, which was why it took a minute before Emma even noticed him.

  The first time Sam saw Emma Robinson he was sitting in the barbershop with his back to the glass-pane window, staring at his reflection in the wall of mirrors, trying to decide whether or not to get his shoes shined before the barber called him to the chair. Sam lowered his eyes, slipped his hand into the pocket of his coat, and thoughtfully fingered the loose coins inside.

  When he looked up again, Emma’s reflection appeared in the mirror, sheathed in yellow sunlight, glowing like an apparition.

  “Pssst,” Sam hissed at the barber.

  “Yeah, boss?”

  He tilted his chin at the reflection. “You see that girl?”

  The barber’s head swiveled from the mirror to the window and then back to Sam. “Yeah, I see her,” he replied, and then added with a chuckle and a wink: “Wouldn’t mind seeing more of her though.”

  Sam grimaced at the barber’s off-color remark.

  “You know that’s the reverend’s daughter, don’t you?”

  “Is it?” Sam replied.

  “Yep. So you ain’t got a chance in hell.”

  * * *

  Sam thought about Emma for the rest of that Thursday, but by Friday afternoon his mind had moved on to more immediate concerns, like work and food and rent.

  But just as quickly as Emma was crowded out of Sam’s memory, she was thrust back in when she passed him in the street on Saturday morning and then again the following Tuesday. The encounters continued with increased frequency until Sam became convinced that God was trying to tell him something, which was funny in and of itself because Sam wasn’t quite sure if he even believed in the Almighty.

  That aside, Sam had become undeniably smitten with the pretty Emma Robinson and decided that he’d better develop a personal relationship with God if he wanted to get acquainted with her. So the following Sunday, Sam walked into the Cotton Way Baptist Church smack in the middle of Reverend Robinson’s fiery sermon.

  An usher planted herself squarely in Sam’s path and aimed her white-gloved index finger at a space along the wall.

  “I see a free seat up front,” Sam whispered.

  The grim-faced usher shook her head and again pointed at the wall.

  Sam didn’t budge. He and the old woman glared at one another until Sam feigned submission. When the usher dropped her guard, he faked left and then right, swiftly maneuvered around the woman, and trotted noisily up the center aisle. He had to climb over a mother and her three small children to get to the vacant seat. In the process, his heel came down on the woman’s big toe and she cried out, “Lawd, Jesus!”

  Sam apologized profusely, but the woman’s godliness had sailed out the window. She swatted his arm with her fan and called him a fool under her breath.

  When the service was over, the hoodwinked usher cornered Sam in the pew and gave him a good tongue-lashing. By the time she was done, the reverend and his family were standing on the church steps shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with the parishioners.

  Sam thought of joining the line of congregants, but decided against it. The time didn’t seem quite right, and besides, the barber’s discouraging words had rattled his confidence. Sam would have to repair it before he moved forward.

  That night, unable to sleep, Sam went down to the Ocmulgee. The river had teeth, so he hung back amongst the saplings, a safe enough distance between him and the alligators trolling the riverbanks for food. Overhead, a family of bats swooped and screeched in the milky glow of the quarter moon; the blanket of leaves on the ground crackled with foraging insects and snakes.

  He stood for hours pondering the murky waters. In time, his mother’s words echoed in his mind: Son, if you take your problems to the water, she will solve them for you.

  His mother had never told a lie. Within minutes, Sam felt able.

  Chapter 4

  The following Sunday, Sam marched confidently into the church and took a seat in the pew directly behind Emma’s mother and brothers. When the reverend directed the congregation to greet their church family, Louisa’s eyebrows climbed at Sam’s strong grip and too-wide grin.

  After service, he went to stand beneath a flourishing hickory tree as Emma and her parents said their Sunday farewells.

  When Emma started down the church steps, leaving her family behind, he straightened his back and walked boldly toward her.

  “Good morning to you, Miss Emma.”

  Emma blushed. “And to you, Mr. . . . um.”

  “Sam. Sam Elliott.” He extended his hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Elliott.”

  “Likewise,” Sam said. “Have a blessed day.” And with that, he turned and abruptly walked off, leaving Emma frowning.

  “Now that was strange,” she mumbled to herself.

  * * *

  Strange, but deliberate.

  Sam knew he couldn’t come at Emma full-on. He had to plant a seed and wait for it to sprout.

  The following Sunday, when service was over, Sam joined the line of congregants. When he reached Emma, he barely glanced at her as he took her hand into his, wished her a blessed day, and then fled. Sam did this for three consecutive weeks. The fourth week, he didn’t attend church service at all.

  By Tuesday, word reached him that the reverend’s daughter was asking around town about him.

  “Yeah, what she asking?”

  “Who your people. Where you live. What you do.”

  “Is that right?”

  On the fifth Sunday, Sam arrived at the church early enough to snag a seat in the front pew. When Emma looked up from the organ keys and spotted his smiling face, she became all thumbs. Flustered, she stumbled clumsily through the last scale of “All God’s Chillun Got Wings,” garnering annoyed glances from Lucille and other members of the choir.

  After service, Emma took her place in the receiving line alongside her mother, distractedly greeting parishioners as she searched for Sam’s brown face.

  But that Sunday, Sam wasn’t in the line. He was across the street, secretly watching her.

  Afterward, he trailed Emma and Lucille to Schlesinger’s Confectionary, a place popular with the young after-church crowd. When Emma and Lucille exited the store, each holding a waffle cone piled high with vanilla ice cream, Sam finally made himself known by sidling up alongside the pair and offering a sunny, “Good day, ladies.”

  Emma’s face brightened. “Good day to you too,” she called back to him as he passed.

  “He the one?” Lucille asked.

  Emma’s face warmed. “Yes!”

  End of Excerpt

  More about The Book of Harlan

  During World War II, two African American musicians are captured by the Nazis in Paris and imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

  WINNER of the 2017 American Book Award

  WINNER of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Fiction)

  2017 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee (Fiction)

  A Washington Post Notable Book of 2016

  Selected as a Go on Girl! Book Club pick for April 2018

  “Simply miraculous . . . As her saga becomes ever more spellbinding, so does the reader’s astonishment at the magic she creates. This is a story about the triumph of the human spirit over bigotry, intolerance and cruelty, and at the center of The Book of Harlan is the restorative force that is music.” —Washington Post

  “McFadden packs a powerful punch with tight prose and short chapters that bear witness to key events in early twentieth-century history: b
oth World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Great Migration. Partly set in the Jim Crow South, the novel succeeds in showing the prevalence of racism all across the country—whether implemented through institutionalized mechanisms or otherwise. Playing with themes of divine justice and the suffering of the righteous, McFadden presents a remarkably crisp portrait of one average man’s extraordinary bravery in the face of pure evil.” —Booklist, Starred review

  “Until fate throws him squarely in the path of evil, Harlan Elliott leads a pretty routine existence as a young black man coming of age in 1920s Jazz Age Harlem. But when Harlan and his close friend are invited to perform in Paris, they get sucked into the maelstrom of horrific world events.” —Booklist, Editors’ Choice list of Adult Books for Young Readers

  “The Book of Harlan is an incredible read. Bernice McFadden . . . has created an amazing novel that speaks to lesser known aspects of the African-American experience and illuminates the human heart and spirit. Her spare prose is rich in details that convey deep emotions and draw the reader in. This fictional narrative of Harlan Elliot’s life is firmly grounded amidst real people and places—prime historical fiction, and the best book I have read this year.” —Historical Novels Review, Editors’ Choice

  “Through this character portrait of Harlan, McFadden has constructed a vivid, compelling narrative that makes historical fiction an accessible, literary window into the African-American past and some of the contemporary dilemmas of the present.” —Publishers Weekly

  “McFadden’s thorough research and passion for her subject creates a brilliant novel.” —Oak Ridger, selected in the Reader’s Guide roundup

  “During WWII, two African-American musicians are captured by the Nazis in Paris and imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp, in the latest from the author of Sugar and Loving Donovan.” —Publishers Weekly, Spring 2016 Announcements

  “Sought-after books included Bernice McFadden’s The Book of Harlan, about two African American musicians imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp, so eye-opening that people came up hours before and days after the one-time giveaway begging for copies.” —Library Journal, ALA Buzzed Books

  “McFadden’s impressive achievement offers us a window into the often very difficult lives of African Americans from the Jim Crow era up to the present—and, unexpectedly, in wartime Germany. Highly recommended for showing us that however badly black citizens have historically been treated, black lives matter.” —Library Journal (XPress Reviews)

  “McFadden shows how enduring the human spirit is, carving out pockets of happiness and fulfillment even in the most oppressive corners of a racist, pre-Civil Rights-era United States and fascist Europe . . . This is not, however, a doom-and-gloom book. McFadden also fleshes out Harlem in its golden age as a safe pocket for black America to thrive, and the opulence, creativity and joy she conjures is intoxicating . . . In this work of historical fiction, many more real characters make appearances . . . McFadden weaves their lives together with ancestors from her family to create something wholly elegant and hypnotic, putting a new face on World War II.” —Eugene Weekly

  “McFadden’s writing breaks the heart—and then heals it again. The perspective of a black man in a concentration camp is unique and harrowing and this is a riveting, worthwhile read.” —Toronto Star

  “Another one of Bernice L. McFadden’s masterpieces . . . McFadden took me on a melodious literary journey through time and place — complex, real, beautifully raw, and necessary . . . McFadden’s prose lingers, giving me courage to stay committed to telling authentic stories that, while revealing of unspeakable truths, serve to unite us all.” —The Millions, Nicole Dennis-Benn’s A Year in Reading

  “I’ve finally discovered a writer I should’ve been reading for years! . . . McFadden has a gift for placing her characters into the vivid history swirling around them, but keeping their emotional experience front and center in the story. There’s a Zora Neale Hurston sensibility to the way she does that.” —MPR News, Kerri Miller’s Must-Read

  “A moving epic that follows the life of one man, Harlan Elliott, The Book of Harlan weaves real-life characters from McFadden’s own life into a fictionalized story about the treatment of black people during the Holocaust.” —Deep South Magazine

  The Book of Harlan opens with the courtship of Harlan’s parents and his 1917 birth in Macon, Georgia. After his prominent minister grandfather dies, Harlan and his parents move to Harlem, where he eventually becomes a professional musician. When Harlan and his best friend, trumpeter Lizard Robbins, are invited to perform at a popular cabaret in the Parisian enclave of Montmartre—affectionately referred to as “The Harlem of Paris” by black American musicians—Harlan jumps at the opportunity, convincing Lizard to join him.

  But after the City of Light falls under Nazi occupation, Harlan and Lizard are thrown into Buchenwald—the notorious concentration camp in Weimar, Germany—irreparably changing the course of Harlan’s life. Based on exhaustive research and told in McFadden’s mesmeric prose, The Book of Harlan skillfully blends the stories of McFadden’s familial ancestors with those of real and imagined characters.

  The Book of Harlan is available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book editions. Our printed books are available from our website and in online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere. Digital editions of The Book of Harlan are available wherever e-books are sold.

  Gathering of Waters

  Following her best-selling, award-winning novel Glorious, McFadden produces a fantastical historical novel featuring the spirit of Emmett Till.

  The New York Times selected Gathering of Waters as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012!

  The Washington Post named Gathering of Waters one of 2012's 50 best books!

  "McFadden works a kind of miracle—not only do [her characters] retain their appealing humanity; their story eclipses the bonds of history to offer continuous surprises . . . Beautiful and evocative, Gathering of Waters brings three generations to life . . . The real power of the narrative lies in the richness and complexity of the characters. While they inhabit these pages they live, and they do so gloriously and messily and magically, so that we are at last sorry to see them go, and we sit with those small moments we had with them and worry over them, enchanted, until they become something like our own memories, dimmed by time, but alive with the ghosts of the past, and burning with spirits." —Jesmyn Ward, New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

  "Read it aloud. Hire a chorus to chant it to you and anyone else interested in hearing about civil rights and uncivil desires, about the dark heat of hate, about the force of forgiveness." —Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered, NPR

  "McFadden combines events of Biblical proportions—from flooding to resurrection—with history to create a cautionary, redemptive tale that spans the early twentieth century to the start of Hurricane Katrina. She compellingly invites readers to consider the distinctions between 'truth or fantasy' . . . In McFadden's boldly spun yarn, consequences extend across time and place. This is an arresting historical portrait of Southern life with reimagined outcomes, suggesting that hope in the enduring power of memory can offer healing where justice does not suffice." —Publishers Weekly

  "The rich text is shaped by the African American storytelling tradition and layered with significant American histories. Recalling the woven spirituality of Toni Morrison's Beloved, this work will appeal to readers of mystic literature." —Library Journal

  "McFadden makes powerful use of imagery in this fantastical novel of ever-flowing waters and troubled spirits." —Booklist

  "As strange as this may sound, Bernice L. McFadden has created a magical, fantastic novel centered around the notorious tragedy of Emmett Till's murder. This is a startling, beautifully written piece of work." —Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River

  "In her new novel, Gathering of Waters, Bernice McFadden brings her own special vision to the unfortunate story of Emmett Till and his murder in Money, Mississippi. Thi
s moving and magical novel, which traces the generations leading up to and away from that horrible night in 1955, drew me in immediately and swept me along through its richly imagined world. I couldn't stop reading, caught up as I was in that enticing place between truth and fantasy, the here-and-now and the what-was, the living and the dead, the ugliness and the beauty, the hatred and the love. What a rich chorus of voices Bernice McFadden has fashioned from this place called Money." —Lee Martin, author of Break the Skin and The Bright Forever

  GATHERING OF WATERS is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi—a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families.

  TASS HILSON AND EMMETT TILL were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit.

  FORTY YEARS LATER, AFTER THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, Tass returns to Money and fantasy takes flesh when Emmett Till's spirit is finally released from the dank, dark waters of the Tallahatchie River. The two lovers are reunited, bringing the story to an enchanting and profound conclusion.

  GATHERING OF WATERS mines the truth about Money, Mississippi, as well as the town's families, and threads their history over decades. The bare-bones realism—both disturbing and riveting—combined with a magical realm in which ghosts have the final say, is reminiscent of Toni Morrison's Beloved.