The instant Sunday Times bestseller
Winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024
Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year 2024
Selected as a 'Book of the Year' in The Telegraph, Financial Times, New Statesman, TLS and The Spectator
'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' – Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James is a profound and ferociously funny reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. From Percival Everett, award-winning author of The Trees 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 owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he flees to 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.
So begins a dangerous and transcendent journey along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. And together, the unlikely pair embark on the most life-changing odyssey of them all . . .
‘Who should read this book? Every single person in the country’ – Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Tom Lake
'James has the potential to become a classic . . . Thrilling, bold and profound' – The Sunday Times
'Funny, wise, gracious; this may be Everett's best book yet' – Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
'Magnificent . . . This is Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful' – The New York Times
'Unforgiving and compassionate, beautiful and brutal, a tragedy and a farce' – Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust