Not Without Laughter

In a small Kansas town in the early years of the twentieth century, a boy named Sandy grows up inside a Black family pulled in different directions by pride, faith, hardship, and hope. His grandmother Aunt Hager takes in washing and trusts in God, his mother works and worries, his aunt chases a brighter life, and his restless father drifts through with music and dreams. Langston Hughes, better known for his poetry, drew on his own Midwestern boyhood for this warm and clear-eyed first novel about ordinary people reaching for dignity and a little joy. It stands among the finest fiction of the Harlem Renaissance. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.