Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset

Revisit the critically acclaimed sophomore novel of Crisis editor Jessie Redmon Fauset, Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral (1928).

After the death of their parents, the Murray family consists of just two people―Virginia, the younger darker-skinned teacher; and Angela, the elder fair-skinned artist―both Black, both women. While Virginia embraces her Blackness entirely; goes on to move to Harlem, teach Black children and marry a Black man, Angela outright rejects it―opting to move to New York, pass for white, and use her privilege to shatter the glass ceiling of her race.

But is it enough? While the act of passing gets her foot in the door; allows her the opportunity for artistic success and even leads to a romantic affair, as a woman there’s only so far she can go and only so much respect she can garner. If being a woman, even a white woman, limits the ways in which she is able to seek fulfilment in her life, what is the point in trying to pass at all?

REVIEW

"This book was originally published in 1928 by an author important in the Harlem Renaissance. Jessie Redmon Fauset explores the importance of race in people’s treatment and opportunities through the story of two sisters, Virginia who is obviously “colored” and Angela who appears white. The novel focusses on the latter who is conflicted between her desire to have the easier life of a white person and her need to stand up for her own people."  - Amazon reviewer

PRODUCT REVIEWS
Trade Paperback
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978-0593731956
Pages: 320