240 pages | HardcoverA major literary event: an explosive, previously unpublished novel about race and police violence by the legendary author ofNative SonandBlack Boy

Fred Daniels, a Black man, is picked up by the police after a brutal double murder and tortured until he confesses to a crime he did not commit. After signing a confession, he escapes from custody and flees into the citys sewer system.

This is the devastating premise of this scorching novel, a masterpiece that Richard Wright was unable to publish in his lifetime. Written between his landmark booksNative Son(1940) andBlack Boy(1945), at the height of his creative powers, it would eventually see publication only in drastically condensed and truncated form in the posthumous collectionEight Men(1961).

Now, for the first time, by special arrangement with the authors estate, the full text of this incendiary novel about race and violence in America, the work that meant more to Wright than any other (I have never written anything in my life that stemmed more from sheer inspiration), is published in the form that he intended, complete with his companion essay, Memories of My Grandmother. Malcolm Wright, the authors grandson, contributes an afterword.