I love the humanity McBride finds in his characters, an intriguing and heart-warming prospect for me always. Once more, he delivers.
The story examines the human relationships between Jewish immigrants and African Americans in Depression Era Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Adding an unexpected dimension that elevated the story for me, it culminated in a community-orchestrated, nail-biting rescue of a handicapped African-American child from Pennhurst Asylum, a notorious snake pit.
“A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing.” —Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review
“We all need—we all deserve—this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for…
The 13th of a fourteen volume, Kevin Kerney mystery series, what elevates these excellent police procedurals for me is the character development that lends credibility to the stories. Settling into each story is akin to an informal, spontaneous gathering of old friends.
Set in modern-day New Mexico, my interest is whetted by the ethical dedication that law officers Kevin Kerney and Clayton Istee (Kerney’s half-Apache son) bring to solving crimes. In Residue, the tables are turned, fascinatingly for me, as Kerney becomes the primary suspect when the bones of a former girlfriend turn up forty years after her disappearance.
A long-unsolved missing person's case becomes a homicide investigation when the bones of the girlfriend of now retired Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney are unearthed forty-five years after her disappearance. And he is now the main suspect.
This book exemplifies why I read. I love it when an author’s writing itself is a graceful treat, in this case, absorbed like sips from a cup of cocoa on an unhurried day.
I still require myself to read three to four literary works per year. Afterlives is why I do it, a nugget of a novel that teaches as it entertains. When you spin a quietly gripping story while simultaneously educating me, you’ve got me.
It is an examination of how the human spirit survived the cruelty of German colonialism in East Africa through three Muslim characters, each generous of spirit, durable, worthy of esteem.
BY THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2021
'One of Africa's greatest living writers' Giles Foden
'Exquisite' Telegraph
'A remarkable novel, by a wondrous writer' Philippe Sands
'To read Afterlives is to be returned to the joy of storytelling' Aminatta Forna
'Effortlessly compelling storytelling ... You forget that you are reading fiction, it feels so real' Leila Aboulela
Restless, ambitious Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the Schutzruppe askari, the German colonial troops; after years away, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away.
Hamza was not stolen, but…
It’s 1963. Shortly before his seventeenth birthday, Sean Thornton overhears a confession of an imagined crime by one of the town bullies, Rocky Corcoran. A week later, the crime – the violation of a friend’s mother – is committed.
Suspended between the immediacy of his teen years and the onrushing responsibilities of a looming adulthood, Thornton struggles with the guilt-laden weight of his Catholic-bred conscience. Testing Thornton’s mettle, for reasons unknown, Corcoran has always nursed a particular dislike of Sean. Torn between doing the right thing and avoiding Corcoran’s wrath, Sean turns to Britt Clarity, one of the first female officers in the Suffolk County Police Department. Together, they work toward bringing Corcoran to justice.
