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Goodreads Choice Awards Finalists 2025
Nella Larsen

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Nella Larsen


Born
in Chicago, Illinois, The United States
April 13, 1891

Died
March 30, 1964

Genre
Literature & Fiction


Nellallitea 'Nella' Larsen (first called Nellie Walker) was an American novelist of the Harlem Renaissance who wrote two novels and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, what she wrote earned her recognition by her contemporaries and by present-day critics. ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.9 · 94,259 ratings · 9,974 reviews · 22 distinct works • Similar authors
Passing
by
3.92 avg rating — 79,220 ratings — published 1929 — 313 editions
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Quicksand
by
3.72 avg rating — 8,599 ratings — published 1928 — 115 editions
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Quicksand and Passing
by
3.95 avg rating — 4,590 ratings — published 1928 — 3 editions
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The Complete Fiction of Nel...
by
4.15 avg rating — 1,570 ratings — published 1928 — 25 editions
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Sanctuary
3.94 avg rating — 87 ratings — published 1930 — 5 editions
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The Short Fiction of Nella ...
3.94 avg rating — 79 ratings — published 1930 — 9 editions
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O Homem Errado
3.65 avg rating — 48 ratings — 7 editions
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Freedom
3.80 avg rating — 20 ratings — 3 editions
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Collected works by Nella La...
4.38 avg rating — 13 ratings
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Beyond Passing: The Further...
by
4.38 avg rating — 8 ratings — 4 editions
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More books by Nella Larsen…

Related News

Like  The Mothers , Brit Bennett’s bestselling debut,  The Vanishing Half  revolves around a secret with far-reaching implications. 
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44 likes · 9 comments
Quotes by Nella Larsen  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“The trouble with Clare was, not only that she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, but that she wanted to nibble at the cakes of other folk as well.”
― Nella Larsen, Passing
tags: selfishness
69 likes
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“It’s funny about ‘passing.’ We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it. It excites our contempt and yet we rather admire it. We shy away from it with an odd kind of revulsion, but we protect it.”
― Nella Larsen, Passing
50 likes
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“I think being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world. ”
― Nella Larsen, The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand, and The Stories
tags: motherhood, mothers
49 likes
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Polls

April 2022 - State of the Nation

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (1970) 231 pages
 
  8 votes, 26.7%

Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871) 904 pages
 
  7 votes, 23.3%

The Virgin in the Garden by A.S. Byatt (1978) 428 pages
 
  6 votes, 20.0%

Passing by Nella Larsen (1929) 141 pages
 
  5 votes, 16.7%

Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse (1959) 187 pages
 
  2 votes, 6.7%

Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant (1885) 416 pages
 
  2 votes, 6.7%

30 total votes
More...

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