James

Adult • Historical Fiction

A Novel

Jim overhears his impending sale Journey down the Mississippi River Huck fakes his own death Separation from family drives action Struggle for freedom against adversity

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father.

As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

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Edition information

Book details

Publisher: Vintage
Publication date: 2026
Print length: 320 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 978-0593686867

Historical Fiction

Reader guide

What to Know Before Reading James

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a ...

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About the author

Percival Everett

PERCIVAL EVERETT is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC and the author of Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner James. His other most recent books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award, The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University, and the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023 and was awarded the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children.

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A favorite quote

“Freedom is not just a destination; it is a journey of the heart.”

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