BOOK REVIEW FOR A Harlem Wedding by Tiffany L. Warren

 

A Harlem Wedding  by Tiffany L. Warren

Published:  May 12, 2026 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Genre:  Historical Fiction, African American

Taken from Goodreads:  From The Unexpected Diva author Tiffany Warren—a dishy and dramatic novel of the Harlem Renaissance and its most famous Black debutante, Yolande Du Bois, daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois, whose spectacular wedding to poet Countee Cullen was the society event of the year...even though the bride and groom were not-so-secretly in love with other people.

A century ago, Harlem’s glittering social scene had a single Yolande Du Bois, the only child of N.A.A.C.P. icon W.E.B. Du Bois. Yolande was bold, vivacious, and beloved of every gossip columnist. A true daddy’s girl, Yolande followed her father’s advice on from where she went to college (Fisk—Papa’s alma mater) to which sorority she joined (Delta Sigma Theta). But in matters of the heart, Yolande and her father did not agree. Dr. Du Bois himself curated a string of handsome suitors from the “Talented Tenth” for her, but Yolande’s true love was jazz musician Jimmie Lunceford, son of a working-class family from far-off Denver, Colorado. Their romance was an open secret, and more than a little scandalous.

Despite it all, Yolande wound up marrying her father’s famed poet Countee Cullen. Their lavish uptown wedding was the hottest social ticket of 1928. With three thousand attendees, sixteen bridesmaids, and Langston Hughes as a groomsman, it was truly a sight to behold.

But, immediately after the wedding, Yolande’s carefully constructed fairy tale begins to crumble. Torn between the expectations of her father and society and her heart’s true desire, Yolande is forced to decide whether she must leave Harlem to create a more authentic life on her own terms.

A Harlem Wedding is a heady read about love, notoriety, Black excellence, deception, and the très chic lifestyles of the Black elite, from speakeasies of Harlem and the green fields of Fisk University, all the way to Le Grand Duc in Paris.

 

My Thoughts:  I really enjoy reading American history books.  I love that I got to learn about Harlem.   The people, the music, and the communities that live in or around Harlem have so many stories to tell and some of them were told in A Harlem Wedding. 

The entire book seemed so true to the time and the location.   Women were raised to be wives and moms, men worked to support their families, father’s found husbands for their daughters.   That is the story of Yolande’s life.  She is unique in that she went away to college, she took a stand against her father when she could.   She followed her father’s rules but she also knew when to push for her freedom to make her own choices.

I was pulled right into this book becoming quickly invested in the characters and their stories to tell.   The sights and sounds of Harlem came alive as I read.  I enjoyed every page, every word of this book.   Tiffany L. Warren, the author, has been added to my must-read author list.

Thank you William Morrow Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

 Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon