A Kind of Freedom, 9781473679597
Paperback
A emotionally wrenching, character-rich debut from a National Book Award-longlisted rising American star

A Kind of Freedom

a john murray original

  • Paperback

    240 pages

  • Release Date

    9 April 2018

Summary

Longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award

‘Luminous … a writer of uncommon nerve and talent’ New York Times

Evelyn is a Creole woman who comes of age in New Orleans at the height of World War II. Her family inhabits the upper echelon of Black society, and when she falls for no-account Renard, she is forced to choose between her life of privilege and the man she loves.

In 1982, Evelyn’s daughter, Jackie, is a frazzled single mother grappling with her ab…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781473679597
ISBN-10:1473679591
Author:Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Publisher:John Murray Press
Imprint:JM Originals
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:240
Release Date:9 April 2018
Weight:240g
Dimensions:212mm x 148mm x 18mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

Luminous and remarkably assured first novel … shines an unflinching but compassionate light on three generations of a black family in New Orleans who try to make the best choices they can in a world defined at every turn by constraint, peril and disappointment … For a debut novelist to take up such charged material is daring; to succeed in lending free-standing life to her characters without yielding an inch to sentimentality - or its ugly twin, pathology - announces her as a writer of uncommon nerve and talent - New York Times

Compassionate and readable, the novel vividly captures the pressures faced by African-American families in a country still racked with racial tensions - Sunday Times

A compelling debut novel … Race, class, unemployment, drug wars and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina all factor into Sexton’s multigenerational tale, illustrating the persistent racial disparities in our so-called ‘post-racial’ America - Mercury News

This generational arc is largely related to systemic racism, but to simplify this novel as an exploration of such minimizes Wilkerson’s incredible achievement … This remarkable debut marks Margaret Wilkerson Sexton as a writer worth watching - Chicago Review of Books

It’s hard to believe that A Kind of Freedom is Sexton’s first novel … This is a book for our time - New York Journal of Books

This emotionally wrenching, character-rich debut spans three generations in a city deeply impacted by segregation, economic inequality, and racial tensions … In this fine debut, each generation comes with new possibilities and deferred dreams blossoming with the hope that this time, finally, those dreams may come to fruition - Publishers Weekly

A well-crafted - and altogether timely - first novel - Kirkus Reviews

A fascinating exploration of the long-lasting and enduring divisive legacy of slavery in the US … a story that will pull you in and keep you hypnotised - Stylist

About The Author

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Born and raised in New Orleans, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton studied creative writing at Dartmouth and law at UC Berkeley. A recipient of the Lombard fellowship, she spent a year in the Dominican Republic working for a civil rights organization and writing. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her stories have been published or are forthcoming in The Massachusetts Review, Grey Sparrow Journal, Limestone Journal, and Broad! Magazine. She lives in the Bay Area, California. A Kind of Freedom is her debut novel.

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