James

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What to expect

'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' – Roddy Doyle

'His [Dominic Hofman] performance is terrific: variously wry, poignant and thoughtful as he imbues Jim with the humanity and agency denied to him by Twain' – The Guardian, Audiobook of the Week

James is a profound and ferociously funny novel from one of our greatest living writers, Percival Everett.

The Sunday Times Bestseller
Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Finalist for the Orwell Prize for Fiction

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he flees to nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town.

So begins a dangerous and transcendent journey along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. And together, the unlikely pair embark on the most life-changing odyssey of them all . . .

A 'Book of the Year' in The Observer, The Times & Sunday Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Spectator, New Statesman, Independent, TLS, The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, i newspaper, The Economist, The Irish Times, The New York Times, TIME and The New Yorker

'Who should read this book? Every single person in the country' – Ann Patchett

'Scorchingly funny and action-packed' – The Sunday Times, 'Books of the Year'

'This may be Everett's best book yet' – Bonnie Garmus

'Playful and viciously comic' – The Telegraph, 'Books of the Year'

'My favourite novel this year' – Salman Rushdie

Critics Review

A captivating response to Mark Twain’s classic that is both a bold exploration of a dark chapter in history and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit
The 2024 Booker Prize Judges
I’m demanding that you read Percival Everett’s novel James, in which Everett takes the camera from Twain’s Huck Finn and hands it to the slave, Jim. Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them
Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James is funny and horrifying, brilliant and riveting. In telling the story of Jim instead of Huckleberry Finn, Percival Everett delivers a powerful, necessary corrective to both literature and history. I found myself cheering both the writer and his hero. Who should read this book? Every single person in the country
Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Tom Lake
Pure brilliance. Funny, wise, gracious; this may be Everett's best book yet
Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
Percival Everett is a giant of American letters, and James is a canon-shatteringly great book. Unforgiving and compassionate, beautiful and brutal, a tragedy and a farce, this brilliant novel rewrites literary history to let us hear the voices it has long suppressed
Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust
My favourite novel this year was James by Percival Everett. By giving the runaway Jim from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn his own voice (or voices) and his dignity – James, not Jim – he adds a dimension that’s missing from the original, and, I think, improves on it
Salman Rushdie, The Observer, 'Books of the Year'
Scorchingly funny . . . A significant and exhilarating corrective to history, told in the most compelling of voices
The Sunday Times, 'Books of the Year'
Playful and viciously comic . . . James might be the book of the year and ought to have won the Booker Prize
The Daily Telegraph, 'Books of the Year'
Percival Everett’s magisterial satire James [is] an essential rewrite of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn
The Guardian, 'Books of the Year;
James is not just an imaginative retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (which gives voice and agency to the enslaved Jim) but a gripping and propulsive drama that takes readers on a familiar journey while challenging their preconceptions at every twist and turn
Financial Times, 'Books of the Year'
One of the novels of the year . . . [It] is both true to the original and turns it entirely on its head. Crackling with insight and wit
Daily Mail, 'Books of the Year'
You will never think of Mark Twain's seminal 19th-century novel in the same way again, as Everett's version is subversive, clever and exciting, while also being a rollicking good read
i newspaper, 'Books of the Year'
James by Percival Everett [is] such a brilliant retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the enslaved Jim, resisting and rebelling against underestimation and oppression. A wise and profound book – and funny too
Kit de Waal, The Observer, 'Books of the Year'
James by Percival Everett is more than a retelling of a classic; it is a reclamation, somehow a homage and a rebuke – a retelling that centres a man we only previously accessed through the lens of a child. It is a wry, wise, funny and touching book that I would gift to strangers on the street if I could
Attica Locke, The Observer, 'Books of the Year'
Funny, moving, beautifully written, Percival Everett’s retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a brave thing to do – but Everett is a fitting match for Mark Twain
Margaret MacMillan, New Statesman, 'Books of the Year'
Original, funny, quirky and serious without being solemn
The Spectator, 'Books of the Year'
Choosing the best book of the year is usually a test . . . But this year Percival Everett’s James . . . is so dazzling that it deserves wide appreciation and acknowledgement . . . [It] will surely become a classic to be read alongside Twain
Elaine Showalter, TLS, 'Books of the Year'
Gripping, painful, funny, horrifying . . . a consummate performance to the last
The Observer
This is the work of an American master at the peak of his powers
Financial Times
Both a page-turner and a profound meditation on the ramifications of slavery and self-hood . . . Luminous
TLS
A classic novel overhauled by a modern master
The Daily Telegraph
Percival Everett is an essential writer and James may be his greatest novel yet
i
A sharp novel . . . You may think you know Huck Finn’s story but this version breathes new life into it with unexpected twists and turns making it a must-read
Daily Mirror
Majestic . . . [James] is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful
The New York Times
American literature’s philosopher king — and its sharpest satirist
The New Yorker
[An] ingenious retelling of The Adverntures of Huckleberry Finn . . . Everett has outdone himself
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
The audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain's epochal odyssey
Kirkus (Starred Review)
An absolutely essential read
Booklist (Starred Review)
Clever, soulful, and full of righteous rage . . . James is destined to become a modern classic
Esquire.com
To call James a retelling would be an injustice. Everett sends Mark Twain’s classic through the looking glass. What emerges is no longer a children’s book, but a blood-soaked historical novel stripped of all ornament . . . Genius
The Atlantic
‘[A] careful and thought-provoking auditing of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . . . broadening our understanding of an endangered classic by bringing out the tragedy behind the comic facade
The Wall Street Journal
In a fever dream of a retelling, the new reigning king of satire, Percival Everett, has turned one of America's best loved classics, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, upside down . . . a startling homage and a new classic in its own right
NPR.org
Heir to Mark Twain’s satirical vision, Everett turns a boyhood memoir into a neo-fugitive slave narrative thriller . . . a provocative, enlightening work of literary art
The Boston Globe
[A] sly response to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . . . James both honors and interrogates Huck Finn, along with the nation that reveres it
The Washington Post
Once you’ve picked up Everett’s James, a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, you’ll know that only Everett could take on the task of allowing Mark Twain’s character Jim to show what was missing from the original story
The Los Angeles Times
Audacious. . . Everett [gives] Jim – who, we learn, prefers to be called James – his agency, letting his intelligence and compassion shine through
Time
[Percival Everett is a] prolific genius . . . If anyone is poised to casually write a masterpiece that not only becomes instant canon but also sets a brush fire to the current ones it stands upon, it’s Everett. And that’s exactly what he’s done with James
Elle
Everett's latest dazzling novel is a supplement and a rebuke, a corrective and a celebration of Mark Twain's [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]
Scotland on Sunday
[James] abounds in satire and irony . . . Like Kafka, [Percival Everett] is capable at once of being scarily funny and chillingly serious
The Herald
By recasting Twain’s flawed classic as a portrait of an enslaved man – in all the fullness of his courage, humanity and humour – Everett leaves a meaningful mark on American letters
The Irish Times
The wit of the writing and the fascinating examination into the freeing power of language preserves the charm and action-packed adventure of [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn], while cleverly – and at times harrowingly – deconstructing its flaws
Irish Mail on Sunday
James is a masterful reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . . . [Percival Everett] has written a classic
Nicola Sturgeon, New Statesman, 'Books of the Year'
James, Percival Everett’s reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was the pick of the Booker list – a nerveless triumph of tone
Andrew Marr, New Statesman, 'Books of the Year'
Impudent and satirical, Everett demands courageous open-mindedness from his readers
Terri Apter, TLS, 'Books of the Year'
Devastating . . . [James's] fearsome transformation is marked not only in the title, but also in [the novel's] final words
Leo Lensing, TLS, 'Books of the Year'

User Reviews

Book 4.8
Narration 4.8
5.0
5.0
Just stunning
FatPossum 06/07/2025
4.0
4.0
lokislibrary 03/04/2025
5.0
5.0
Tremendous and the narration flawless.
Cheery 27/03/2025
5.0
5.0
gabie_reads 26/01/2025
5.0
5.0
hazeldc 26/12/2024

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