The Walls of Jericho

Rudolph Fisher’s first novel, published in 1928, is a bright, satirical map of Harlem at the height of its Renaissance. The story follows Joshua Jones, a tough and easygoing piano mover known as Shine, whose romance with a young domestic worker draws him into questions he would rather dodge. Around him Fisher arranges the whole social ladder, from laborers and rent-party hosts to the striving Black middle class and the white patrons who watch them, and turns a sharp comic eye on the snobberies that divide his own community. A working physician as well as a writer, Fisher set it all down with warmth and bite. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.