Overview

Selected as one of the top 12 reads of 2024 by The Times and Sunday Times 'Percival Everett is a giant of American letters, and James is a canon-shatteringly great book' - Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust 'Who should read this book? Every single person in the country' - Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Tom Lake An enthralling and ferociously funny reimagining of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. Written by Booker Prize-shortlisted Percival Everett, his novel Erasure is now released as the critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning film American Fiction, and James is set to be the literary event of 2024. The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson's Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck begin to navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live. And together, the unlikely pair must face the most dangerous odyssey of them all . . . From the shadows of Huck Finn's mischievous spirit, Jim emerges to reclaim his voice, defying the conventions that have consigned him to the margins.

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9781035031238

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The unsung Jonathan Swift of modern American fiction. * The Times * One of the most inimitable and distinct voices in contemporary American fiction. * The Washington Post *

The unsung Jonathan Swift of modern American fiction. * The Times * One of the most inimitable and distinct voices in contemporary American fiction. * Washington Post * Everett has mastered the movement between unspeakable terror and knock out comedy * New York Times * There’s nobody else quite like him, with his mash of ideas, chaos, satire and frivolity * Financial Times *

The unsung Jonathan Swift of modern American fiction * The Times * It's about time this extraordinary American writer got some credit this side of the Pond -- <i>Sunday Times</i> on <i>The Trees</i> A powerful wake-up call, as well as an act of literary restitution -- <i>Guardian</i> on <i>The Trees</i> Satire in the great tradition of Swift by way of South Park -- <i>Daily Telegraph</i> on <i>The Trees</i> There’s nobody else quite like him, with his mash of ideas, chaos, satire and frivolity -- <i>Financial Times</i> on <i>Dr No</i> Clever, funny and mercilessly satirical. -- <i>The Times</i> on <i>Dr No</i> One of the most inimitable and distinct voices in contemporary American fiction * Washington Post * Everett has mastered the movement between unspeakable terror and knock out comedy * New York Times *

Percival Everett is a giant of American letters, and JAMES is a canon-shatteringly great book. Unforgiving and compassionate, beautiful and brutal, a tragedy and a farce, this brilliant novel rewrites literary history to let us hear the voices it has long suppressed -- Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of <i>Trust</i> JAMES is funny and horrifying, brilliant and riveting. In telling the story of Jim instead of Huckleberry Finn, Percival Everett delivers a powerful, necessary corrective to both literature and history. I found myself cheering both the writer and his hero. Who should read this book? Every single person in the country -- Ann Patchett, bestselling author of <i>Tom Lake</i> Pure brilliance. Funny, wise, gracious; this may be Everett's best book yet -- Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of <i>Lessons in Chemistry</i> A scorchingly funny, action-packed reworking of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- <i>The Sunday Times</i>, 'The 40 best books of 2024' [A] rambunctious, perspective-altering book, keeping the adventurous spirit of [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn] but full of contemporary resonances -- <i>Guardian</i> 'Fiction to look out for in 2024' An audacious re-writing . . . delivers a story bristling with atmosphere, sadness and sly wit -- <i>Financial Times</i> 'What to read in 2024' [Percival Everett] has quietly been producing excellent novels for four decades, with 2021's The Trees shortlisted for the Booker Prize, but [JAMES] might be his most anticipated yet -- <i>BBC Culture</i>, '45 of 2024's most anticipated books' [Percival Everett] is very funny; he's got a comic vision of the world, tethered to an interest in serious stuff, particularly race in America . . . The comedy lowers the reader's defenses & lets other things in -- John Self * BBC Radio 4 Open Book * Percival Everett is an audacious, beguiling American master, whose wild trajectory has reached astonishing highs in the past decade. Now comes JAMES, which enlists and devours not only Mark Twain’s novel but aspects of Melville, Ellison, and even Kafka to make an irrevocable invention into the canon. Everett is simply playing this game at a higher level, and it is the most serious game imaginable -- Jonathan Lethem, author of <i>Motherless Brooklyn</i> This is a brilliant, accessible, and very necessary companion to Huckleberry Finn -- Dave Eggers, bestselling author of <i>The Circle</i> 2024 . . . might be the year of Percival Everett . . . [JAMES is a] systematic and forensic and laugh-out-loud-funny deconstruction of America and race * Scotsman * If you liked Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, read JAMES, by Percival Everett * Washington Post * [An] ingenious retelling of The Adverntures of Huckleberry Finn . . . Everett has outdone himself -- <i>Publishers Weekly</i> (Starred Review) One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him -- <i>Kirkus Reviews</i> (Starred Review) An absolutely essential read -- <i>Booklist</i> (Starred Review)

Author Information

Percival Everett is the author of over thirty published works, including Zulus, Erasure, I Am Not Sidney Poitier, Assumption, Percival Everett by Virgil Russell, Telephone, The Trees, Dr. No and James. A Guggenheim Fellow and Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Everett has won the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, the Academy Award in Literature, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Fiction. In 2022, The Trees was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Percival Everett lives in Los Angeles, CA, where he is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.

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