In creating the character of James, based on the character Jim Hawkins in Huck Finn, Everett didn't just retell the original story from Jim's point of view. The author delved deeply into the world that a man like Jim Hawkins would have lived in- the constant need to hide, to explain, to take the punishment that the white people inflicted. It's important to understand what slavery was really like for the enslaved and therefore begin to understand what true freedom could look like.
'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…
A writer traveling west to escape her past.A vigilante fighting to protect the future.An ambitious new sheriff in town.Writer Kit Foxglove is moving out west in search of fresh air and a new start when her train is attacked by bandits. Although local hero Squarejaw Jordan stops the robbery, the adventure lands Kit in the hospital of a tiny town in the middle of the desert.Low on funds, she takes a job writing about the masked vigilante while she waits for the next train to come through town. But soon the bandit queen One-Eyed Sue begins targeting anyone who helps…
The 1970's world of Playgirl magazine, marijuana, and free love from the point of view of a 12 year old is an unexpected story for a memoir. So worth the journey!
For one 1970’s family, the center may not hold, but it certainly does fold.
In 1978 Jimmy Carter mediates the Camp David Accords, Fleetwood Mac tops charts with Rumours, Starsky fights crime with Hutch, and twelve-year-old Lou Cove is uprooted from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Salem, Massachusetts– a backwater town of witches, Puritans, and sea-captain wannabes. After his eighth move in a dozen years, Lou figures he should just resign himself to a teenage purgatory of tedious paper routes, school bullies, and unrequited lust for every girl he likes.
The Drum Tree is a coming of age forest adventure. Four teens venture into the forbidden forest, led by music, the heartbeat of the earth, and by movement and dance. They find their way to a magical clearing where an age old tree opens up their understanding of the planet, of the natural world, and of human culture. Their journey within the core of the tree helps them to see where they fit into it all.
