About the Author

Tayari Jones is the internationally bestselling author of four novels, most recently An American Marriage, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019. Jones is the recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and a Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. She is also a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Born in Atlanta, Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is currently professor of Creative Writing at Emory University and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.

Reviews

'A marvellous feat of storytelling.' Guardian

'If you haven't read it yet, now is the time.' Sunday Times Style

'Haunting...beautifully written.' New York Times Book Review

'It's among Tayari's many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words.' Oprah Winfrey

'Epic...transcendent…triumphant.' Elle

'The end of this beautiful novel made me cry. Jones writes with intelligence and a lively wit, but there’s more – a warmth that forces you to care about these people as if you had met them.' The Times

'Jones sheds a haunting light on the all-encompassing nature of racial injustice.' Daily Mail, Best Summer Reads

'Loyalty, duty, family, secrets and anger are gently, yet powerfully woven through every page...the reader is given a sense of intimacy that is a rare gift from an author.' Naga Munchetty, 2016 judge of the Women's Prize for Fiction

'A magnificent, painful story of love and justice.' Sainsbury's Magazine, Book Club Choice

'It is a story of love, loss and loyalty, the resilience of the human spirit painted on a big political canvas that shines a light on today's America... The prose is luminous, striking and utterly moving.' Prof. Kate Williams, Chair of Judges, The Women's Prize for Fiction

'Jones writes brilliantly about expectations and loss and racial injustice, and how love must evolve when our best laid plans go awry.' Esquire

'Exquisitely written… Powerful.’ Evening Standard

'[An] incredible love story... Jones's prose is chock-full of lyricism, grace and wisdom. You will never forget the story of Celestial and Roy.' Observer