Bernice L. McFadden chosen for prestigious Richard & Judy Book Club
Bernice L. McFadden’s novel Sugar has been chosen for Richard & Judy’s prestigious Book Club. Titles are hand-picked by the nation's favourite book-loving couple from their own reading pile. The Richard & Judy Book Club has always had a unique ability to uncover stories that have an enormous impact on readers.
Sugar is one of the six-strong lineup to feature in the Autumn Club. Having debuted in the US back in 2000, it has now been republished across the pond by Vintage Books. It tells a poignant tale set in America’s Deep South in the 1950s.
Madeley says of the story: “So begins this first novel by McFadden, written 20 years ago and now deservedly republished. It still breaks the mould – Sugar is not the tart with a heart of gold, but a young woman utterly hardened by her traumatic past. Abandoned by her mother as a baby, she was raised by three prostitutes who ran an Arkansas bordello. Forced to turn tricks since she was twelve, she’s lived a life of degradation. Sugar’s heart is hard and when she inherits a modest home in Bigelow she earns a living the only way she knows how. Sugar is a joy to read, but sadly its tale of black oppression still seems relevant today.”
Bernice is the author of ten critically acclaimed novels — including Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors' Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), and Glorious, which was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. She is a three-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the BCALA. Her most recent novel, Praise Song for the Butterflies (Jacaranda Books), was longlisted for the Women’s Prize in 2019.
Our CEO Valerie says: “We’ve long been fans of Bernice’s writing here at Jacaranda after bringing two of her books to the UK market. We couldn’t be prouder that she’s been chosen for the incredible Richard & Judy Book Club. We know readers will love Sugar and her other titles Praise Song for the Butterflies and The Book of Harlan.”
Readers can buy both Praise Song for the Butterflies and The Book of Harlan here at Jacaranda Books, or sign up to the Jacaranda Newsletter for all our latest book news and author profiles.