If Beale Street Could Talk

In this honest and stunning novel that inspired the award-winning major motion picture of the same name, James Baldwin has given America a moving story of love in the face of injustice.

A major work of Black American fiction. -The New Republic

Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin's story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions-affection, despair, and hope. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche.

One of the best books Baldwin has ever written-perhaps the best of all. -The Philadelphia Inquirer

A moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless."-Joyce Carol Oates

f Van Gogh was our nineteenth-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our twentiethth-century one. -Michael Ondaatje

Striking and particularly haunting. . . . A beauty, especially in its rendering of youthful passion. -Cosmopolitan

A major work of Black American fiction... His best novel yet, even Baldwin's most devoted readers are due to be stunned by it. -The New Republic

Emotional dynamite... a powerful assault upon the cynicism that seems today to drain our determination to confront deep social problems. -Library Journal

A moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless. -The New York Times Book Review