Home to Harlem, written by Claude McKay, was published in 1928, during the Harlem Renaissance.

Home to Harlem tells the story of Jake Brown, who, as the book opens, has deserted the United States Army during World War I. Jake lives in London for a while, before he returns home to his Harlem neighborhood in New York City. On his first night back, he runs into Zeddy, an army friend. He also meets a woman named Felice, to whom he becomes instantly enamored. To Jake’s great sadness and frustration, he cannot seem to find Felice again after that first night, as he doesn’t remember exactly where she lives.

After a period of time spent carelessly carousing around town, Jake decides to take a job as a cook on the Pennsylvania Railroad. There he meets a waiter in the dining car named Ray, who is a college dropout with big dreams of becoming a writer. The two party so much that Ray ends up overdosing on drugs, although he does recover. Jake returns to Harlem where, after all that time, he finally finds Felice, only to learn that she’d been involved with his old army friend Zeddy. The two men fight. Zeddy then outs Jake as an army deserter.

The book ends as Jake and Felice, together at last, finally leave for Chicago to escape their pasts and build a new life together.