An American Marriage

'A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.' * Barack Obama * 'It's among Tayari's many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words.' * Oprah Winfrey * 'It is a story of love, loss and loyalty, the resilience of the human spirit painted on a big political canvas that shines a light on today's America... The prose is luminous, striking and utterly moving.' * Prof. Kate Williams, Chair of Judges, The Women's Prize for Fiction * 'The end of this beautiful novel made me cry. Jones writes with intelligence and a lively wit, but there's more - a warmth that forces you to care about these people as if you had met them.' * <i>Times</i> * 'A marvellous feat of storytelling.' * <i>Guardian</i> * 'Another incredible love story, though fraught with greater challenges for the couple at the centre, which makes the story all the more moving. Jones's prose is chock-full of lyricism, grace and wisdom. You will never forget the story of Celestial and Roy.' * <i>Observer</i> * 'Jones is very good with character, catching the whole texture of a life in a phrase or two...a vivid picture of how precarious respectable happiness still is for America's new black middle class.' * <i>Sunday Times</i> * 'A blend of thoughtful drama and social issues.' * <i>Independent</i> * 'Epic...transcendent...triumphant.' * <i>Elle</i> * 'A nuanced dissection of love, race, class, family and gender...the sharp simplicity of Jones' writing unleashes her characters' vulnerabilities, and facilitates a remarkably intimate portrait of a corrupt justice system, and the irreversible effects of wrongful conviction.' * <i>Irish Times</i> * 'Jones writes brilliantly about expectations and loss and racial injustice, and how love must evolve when our best laid plans go awry.' * <i>Esquire</i> * 'A powerful, intense tale of injustice, imprisonment and disrupted lives.' * <i>Sunday Express</i> * 'If you haven't read it yet, now is the time.' * <i>Sunday Times Style</i> * '[A] searing, gut-wrenching, page-turning read.' * <i>Sun</i> * 'Packed with ideas and emotion...[a] thoroughly engrossing and impressive novel.' * <i>Observer</i> Book of the Day * 'Haunting...beautifully written.' * <i>The New York Times Book Review</i> * 'Nuanced and evocative... A compelling exploration of the thorny conflicts that drive us apart and bind us, the distorting weight of racism, and how commitment looks across time - and generations.' * BBC Culture * 'A powerful story of a future lost...broadens into a gripping exploration of judicial iniquity and a society divided by race and class.' * <i>Guardian</i> Summer Reads * 'Jones sheds a haunting light on the all-encompassing nature of racial injustice.' * <i>Daily Mail,</i> Best Summer Reads * 'Hailed as a masterpiece by Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey, this is the one everyone's talking about and is the deserved winner of the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction.' * <i>Associated Press,</i> Summer Reading * 'A smart, sharp and very moving look at race and relationships in America.' * <i>i,</i> Best Summer Beach Reads, 2019 * 'A masterly telling of wrongful conviction and simmering racial tensions in the deep south.' * <i>Observer</i> Summer Reading recommendations * 'This year's deserved winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction, the story of a middle-class black executive arrested for a rape he didn't commit, and the strains it imposes on his marriage.' * <i>Sunday Times</i> Summer Reads * 'Heavy subject matter - race, injustice and a wrongful incarceration - is treated with a compelling lightness of touch, but packs a hefty emotional punch.' * <i>Evening Standard</i> Summer Reading * 'Powerful...The story...is both sweeping and intimate- at once an unsparing

Tayari Jones is the internationally bestselling author of four novels, most recently An American Marriage, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019. Jones is the recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and a Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. She is also a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Born in Atlanta, Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is currently professor of Creative Writing at Emory University and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.