Plum Bun

A Novel without a Moral

By: Jessi Redmon Fauset, Morgan Jerkins - introduction, Deborah McDowell

Narrated by: Jasmin Walker

Written in 1929 at the height of the Harlem Renaissance by one of the movement's most important and prolific authors, Plum Bun is the story of Angela Murray, a young black girl who discovers she can pass for white. After the death of her parents, Angela moves to New York to escape the racism she believes is her only obstacle to opportunity. What she soon discovers is that being a woman has its own burdens that don't fade with the color of one's skin, and that love and marriage might not offer her salvation.

Critic reviews

“A key figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement. A force to be reckoned with. She. Was. Amazing.”
—Shonda Rhimes

“One gets, with thought and study, lights on human character. The book is, therefore, well worth reading: not simply from its point of view, but from its human touch and interesting action and plot.”
—W. E. B. Du Bois

“An engrossing novel of women’s lives and experiences. . . . Jessie Redmon Fauset uses Angela’s development as the springboard to explore larger issues that have become regarded as central to Black women’s fiction: the experience of passing, the exploitation of women as sexual objects and thus a questioning of heterosexual relationships, the assertion of racial pride, and the primacy of female bonding.”
—Mary Katherine Wainwright, Belles Lettres

“A fascinating glimpse of a now-vanished Harlem culture.”
—Rosalind Warren, New Directions for Women

“A reminder of how entertaining good writing can be.”
—Ernest R. Mercer, East St. Louis Monitor

Insightful!

This book pulled me right in and I am so glad that I spent one of my remaining credits on this one! This is the first piece of work I have listened to by this author and I am so impressed. I plan to delve into more of her work! The narration was on point! I highly recommend this very informative read/listen! Well done!

The Pitfalls of White Culture

I dislike that a narrative had to be about the dynamics of passing- in a white controlled system of injustice. I liked and admire Jessie's ability to write such a soul stirring novel.