Description

FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE
‘Just so brilliant’
John Green

‘Wildly entertaining. A rollicking saga about one of America’s earliest abolitionists’
People

Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856.

When an argument between Henry’s master and legendary abolitionist John Brown turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town – along with Brown, who believes Henry to be a girl and his good luck charm.

An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure story and a moving exploration of identity and survival.

Publisher Review

A brilliant romp of a novel . . . McBride pulls off his portrait masterfully, like a modern-day Mark Twain * New York Times Book Review * Outrageously entertaining . . . rockets toward its inevitable and, yes, knee-slapping conclusion. Never has mayhem been this much of a humdinger * USA Today * The Good Lord Bird is just so brilliant. It had everything I want in a novel and left me feeling both transported and transformed — John Green You may know the story of John Brown’s unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, but author James McBride’s retelling of the events leading up to it is so imaginative, you’ll race to the finish * NPR * Wildly entertaining . . . a rollicking saga about one of America’s earliest abolitionists * People * McBride delivers another tour de force . . . A fascinating mix of history and mystery * Essence * Both breezy and sharp, a rare combination outside of Twain. You should absolutely read it * New York Magazine * Superbly written . . . McBride transcends history and makes it come alive * Chicago Tribune * Absorbing and darkly funny * San Francisco Chronicle *