Ernest J. Gaines Books

Exploring the complexities of race and the legacy of slavery, this collection features four landmark novels by Ernest J. Gaines, a celebrated voice in American literature. Notable works include "A Lesson Before Dying," which received the National Book Critics Circle Award and was an early Oprah Book Club selection. Drawing from his experiences as the oldest of twelve in a sharecropping family in Louisiana, Gaines crafts nuanced and compassionate narratives that reflect the struggles of both Black and white characters in a racially charged society.

Story of a black lady born into slavery on a Louisiana plantation, freed at the end of the Civil War, who lives for one-hundred more years

Set in Louisiana, the stories explore the lives of sharecroppers and the haunting remnants of plantation life, echoing themes of cruelty, suffering, and resilience. Gaines vividly portrays this landscape, making it as recognizable and impactful as the settings in the works of Ralph Ellison and William Faulkner. Through these narratives, he delves into the complexities of human experience within a deeply rooted cultural and historical context.

A powerful depiction of racial tensions arising over the death of a Cajun farmer at the hands of a black man--set on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation in the 1970s. The Village Voice called A Gathering of Old Men “the best-written novel on Southern race relations in over a decade.”

Being a writer can be a lonely and frustrating experience. The stories in this book-by a wide range of professional writers, novelists, journalists, freelancers, poets and screenwriters-will give readers insight into the human trials, tribulations and triumphs of writers, and writers a source of inspiration and commiseration. Whether readers are beginning writers, seasoned pros or wannabes, the stories of purpose, passion, endurance and success contained in Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul will inform, entertain, uplift and inspire them. In its pages, they will learn important lessons on: the importance of perseverance, the value of being yourself, the process of discovering your own voice, the need for mentors and allies, and the power of following your heartfelt dreams. Contributors include: Sue Grafton, Steve Allen, Dave Barry, Agatha Christie, Art Linkletter, Terry McMillan, and more.

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 Tribune A “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 of A Gathering of Old Men and The 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 Chronicle