Tune in to NPR’s “All Things Considered” later today to hear Heidi Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky,  with her “You Must Read This” segment.

On a related note: Nella Larsen was the first woman of African American descent to win a Guggenheim fellowship. Wow!

“There are novels that are enjoyable to read and others that say something about the world. And sometimes there are novels that are both. Passing by Nella Larsen is one of those books.

Passing is set at the height of the Jazz Age — when Harlem was en vogue. It’s the story of two light-skinned black women whose comfortable lives unravel when they are re-acquainted in a whites-only restaurant: Irene, the wife of a prominent African-American doctor, and the mother of two boys; and her childhood friend Clare, who is passing as white.”

Read the whole piece here.