A Lesson Before Dying: A Novel

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • A deep and compassionate novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to visit a Black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting."An instant classic." —Chicago TribuneA “majestic, moving novel...an instant classic, a book that will be read, discussed and taught beyond the rest of our lives" (Chicago Tribune), from the critically acclaimed author ofA Gathering of Old Men andThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."A Lesson Before Dying reconfirms Ernest J. Gaines's position as an important American writer." —Boston Globe"Enormously moving.... Gaines unerringly evokes the place and time about which he writes." —Los Angeles Times“A quietly moving novel [that] takes us back to a place we've been before to impart a lesson for living.” —San Francisco ChronicleAWARDS• YALSA Best Books for Young Adults winner• National Book Critics Circle Awards winner