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Live in Concert: A Novel
by Bob the Drag Queen
From RuPaul's Drag Race winner and host of HBO's We're Here comes an inventive, wondrous novel about American hero Harriet Tubman that remixes history into a fresh, dynamic novel about love, freedom, salvation, and hip-hop.
In an age of miracles where our greatest heroes from history have magically, unexplainably returned to shake us out of our confusion and hate, Harriet Tubman is back, and she has a lot to say.
Harriet Tubman and four of the enslaved persons she led to freedom want to tell their story in a unique way. Harriet wants to create a hip-hop album and live show about her life, and she needs a songwriter to help her.
She calls upon Darnell Williams, a once successful hip-hop producer who was topping the charts before being outed on a BET talk show. Darnell has no idea what to expect when he steps into the studio with Harriet, only that they have a short period of time to write a legendary album she can take on the road. Over the course of their time together, they not only create music that will take the country by storm, but confront the horrors of both their pasts, and learn to find a way to a better future.
Original, evocative, and historic, Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert is a landmark achievement that will burrow deep into our hearts (and ears).
2026 first quarter besties
Dies anyone else look at your favorites by quarter? Here are my first quarter winners. Will you share yours? THE SUNFLOWER BOYS by Sam Wachman THE EIGHTH LIFE by Nino Haralischavili THE CONJURING OF AMERICA by Lindsey Stewart FAMILY OF SPIES by Christine Kuehn HARRIET TUBMAN LIVE IN CONCERT by Bo...
-Anne_Glasgow
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (2/12/2026)
I just finished Harriet Tubman Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen. It is a short but impactful look at historic, racial, and LGBTQ issues. This is fabulous on audio, read by the author. I'm reading an arc of Last One Out by Jane Harper. On audio I'm starting The White Hot by Quiara Alegria Hudes.
-Anne_Glasgow
"Vivacious ... The reverence for Harriet, 'America's first Black superhero,' makes her feel alive on the page. It's a knockout." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The first novel from TV host and RuPaul's Drag Race winner Bob the Drag Queen vibes with energy and humor but never wavers in its focus on the resilience and power of Black Americans, 'made out of something stronger than steel and diamonds combined,' and the universal passion for liberation." —Booklist (starred review)
"A well-intentioned but ill-executed speculative work." —Kirkus Reviews
"Yes, it's true: that Bob the Drag Queen wrote a novel and it is about Harriet Tubman coming back to life and making a hip-hop album. You already know you're on board, as well you should be: the novel is funny and wild and sharp, about fame and race and creativity and America. Harriet's is a show not to be missed." —LitHub
This information about Harriet Tubman was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Bob the Drag Queen is a television host, actor, activist, and the season eight winner of RuPaul's Drag Race.
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