Get personalized recommendations and earn points toward a free book!
Before you go...
Check Out These
21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
See the List
The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines
Read An Excerpt

Look Inside | Reading Guide

Read An Excerpt
Read An Excerpt

The Tragedy of Brady Sims

By Ernest J. Gaines

By Ernest J. Gaines

By Ernest J. Gaines

By Ernest J. Gaines

By Ernest J. Gaines
Read by JD Jackson and Danny Campbell

By Ernest J. Gaines
Read by JD Jackson and Danny Campbell

Best Seller

Part of Vintage Contemporaries

Paperback $15.00

Aug 29, 2017 | 128 Pages

Ebook $10.99

Aug 29, 2017 | 192 Pages

Audiobook Download $12.50

Aug 29, 2017 | 173 Minutes

All Formats
+
    The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines
    Paperback
    Aug 29, 2017 | 128 Pages
    See All Formats (2) +

    Paperback
    –

    • Paperback $15.00

      Aug 29, 2017 | 128 Pages

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook $10.99

      Aug 29, 2017 | 192 Pages

    Audio
    +

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About The Tragedy of Brady Sims

    Ernest J. Gaines’s new novella revolves around a courthouse shooting that leads a young reporter to uncover the long story of race and power in his small town and the relationship between the white sheriff and the black man who “whipped children” to keep order.
        After Brady Sims pulls out a gun in a courtroom and shoots his own son, who has just been convicted of robbery and murder, he asks only to be allowed two hours before he’ll give himself up to the sheriff. When the editor of the local newspaper asks his cub reporter to dig up a “human interest” story about Brady, he heads for the town’s barbershop. It is the barbers and the regulars who hang out there who narrate with empathy, sadness, humor, and a profound understanding the life story of Brady Sims—an honorable, just, and unsparing man who with his tough love had been handed the task of keeping the black children of Bayonne, Louisiana in line to protect them from the unjust world in which they lived. And when his own son makes a fateful mistake, it is up to Brady to carry out the necessary reckoning. In the telling, we learn the story of a small southern town, divided by race, and the black community struggling to survive even as many of its inhabitants head off northwards during the Great Migration.

    About The Tragedy of Brady Sims

    Ernest J. Gaines’s new novella revolves around a courthouse shooting that leads a young reporter to uncover the long story of race and power in his small town and the relationship between the white sheriff and the black man who “whipped children” to keep order.
        After Brady Sims pulls out a gun in a courtroom and shoots his own son, who has just been convicted of robbery and murder, he asks only to be allowed two hours before he’ll give himself up to the sheriff. When the editor of the local newspaper asks his cub reporter to dig up a “human interest” story about Brady, he heads for the town’s barbershop. It is the barbers and the regulars who hang out there who narrate with empathy, sadness, humor, and a profound understanding the life story of Brady Sims—an honorable, just, and unsparing man who with his tough love had been handed the task of keeping the black children of Bayonne, Louisiana in line to protect them from the unjust world in which they lived. And when his own son makes a fateful mistake, it is up to Brady to carry out the necessary reckoning. In the telling, we learn the story of a small southern town, divided by race, and the black community struggling to survive even as many of its inhabitants head off northwards during the Great Migration.

    About The Tragedy of Brady Sims

    Ernest J. Gaines’s new novella revolves around a courthouse shooting that leads a young reporter to uncover the long story of race and power in his small town and the relationship between the white sheriff and the black man who “whipped children” to keep order.
        After Brady Sims pulls out a gun in a courtroom and shoots his own son, who has just been convicted of robbery and murder, he asks only to be allowed two hours before he’ll give himself up to the sheriff. When the editor of the local newspaper asks his cub reporter to dig up a “human interest” story about Brady, he heads for the town’s barbershop. It is the barbers and the regulars who hang out there who narrate with empathy, sadness, humor, and a profound understanding the life story of Brady Sims—an honorable, just, and unsparing man who with his tough love had been handed the task of keeping the black children of Bayonne, Louisiana in line to protect them from the unjust world in which they lived. And when his own son makes a fateful mistake, it is up to Brady to carry out the necessary reckoning. In the telling, we learn the story of a small southern town, divided by race, and the black community struggling to survive even as many of its inhabitants head off northwards during the Great Migration.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Also by Ernest J. Gaines

    My Grandpa and the Haint
    The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
    Mozart and Leadbelly
    Bloodline
    A Lesson Before Dying
    See all books by Ernest J. Gaines

    Also by Ernest J. Gaines

    My Grandpa and the Haint
    The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
    Mozart and Leadbelly
    Bloodline
    A Lesson Before Dying
    See all books by Ernest J. Gaines

    Also by Ernest J. Gaines

    My Grandpa and the Haint
    The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
    Mozart and Leadbelly
    Bloodline
    A Lesson Before Dying
    See all books by Ernest J. Gaines

    About Ernest J. Gaines

    Ernest Gaines was born on a plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish near New Roads, Louisiana, which is the Bayonne of all his fictional works. He is a writer-in-residence emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Gaines received a MacArthur Fellowship… More about Ernest J. Gaines

    About Ernest J. Gaines

    Ernest Gaines was born on a plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish near New Roads, Louisiana, which is the Bayonne of all his fictional works. He is a writer-in-residence emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Gaines received a MacArthur Fellowship… More about Ernest J. Gaines

    About Ernest J. Gaines

    Ernest Gaines was born on a plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish near New Roads, Louisiana, which is the Bayonne of all his fictional works. He is a writer-in-residence emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Gaines received a MacArthur Fellowship… More about Ernest J. Gaines

    Product Details

    Category: Literary Fiction | Crime Mysteries

    Paperback | $15.00
    Published by Vintage
    Aug 29, 2017 | 128 Pages | 5-5/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780525434467

    Category: Literary Fiction | Crime Mysteries

    Ebook | $10.99
    Published by Vintage
    Aug 29, 2017 | 192 Pages | 5-5/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780525434474

    Category: Literary Fiction | Crime Mysteries | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $12.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Aug 29, 2017 | 173 Minutes | ISBN 9780525587743

    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Also in Literary Fiction

    ‹ ›
    Stories from the City of God
    Stories from the City of God
    Pier Paolo Pasolini
    Ragged Company
    Ragged Company
    Richard Wagamese
    The Female Persuasion
    The Female Persuasion
    Meg Wolitzer
    Florida
    Florida
    Lauren Groff
    Before We Were Yours
    Before We Were Yours
    Lisa Wingate
    Mistress of the Ritz
    Mistress of the Ritz
    Melanie Benjamin
    Where We Come From
    Where We Come From
    Oscar Cásares
    America Is in the Heart
    America Is in the Heart
    Carlos Bulosan
    East Goes West
    East Goes West
    Younghill Kang
    The Ringed Castle
    The Ringed Castle
    Dorothy Dunnett
    Happening
    Happening
    Annie Ernaux
    A Brightness Long Ago
    A Brightness Long Ago
    Guy Gavriel Kay
    Strangers and Cousins
    Strangers and Cousins
    Leah Hager Cohen
    Anna of Kleve, The Princess in the Portrait
    Anna of Kleve, The Princess in the Portrait
    Alison Weir
    The High Season
    The High Season
    Judy Blundell
    Disappearing Earth
    Disappearing Earth
    Julia Phillips
    Good Trouble
    Good Trouble
    Joseph O’Neill
    Rules for Visiting
    Rules for Visiting
    Jessica Francis Kane
    Sailor & Lula, Expanded Edition
    Sailor & Lula, Expanded Edition
    Barry Gifford
    Message from the Shadows
    Message from the Shadows
    Antonio Tabucchi
    Life of David Hockney
    Life of David Hockney
    Catherine Cusset
    Home Remedies
    Home Remedies
    Xuan Juliana Wang
    Orange World and Other Stories
    Orange World and Other Stories
    Karen Russell
    The Man in the Next Bed
    The Man in the Next Bed
    David K. Shipler
    The Flight Portfolio
    The Flight Portfolio
    Julie Orringer
    A Hologram for the King
    A Hologram for the King
    Dave Eggers
    Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen
    Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen
    Alison Weir
    Exhalation
    Exhalation
    Ted Chiang
    Little Fires Everywhere
    Little Fires Everywhere
    Celeste Ng
    The Book of Essie
    The Book of Essie
    Meghan MacLean Weir
    There There
    There There
    Tommy Orange
    Castle Gripsholm
    Castle Gripsholm
    Kurt Tucholsky
    The Farm
    The Farm
    Joanne Ramos
    Juliet the Maniac
    Juliet the Maniac
    Juliet Escoria
    State of the Union
    State of the Union
    Nick Hornby
    The Red Daughter
    The Red Daughter
    John Burnham Schwartz
    Spring
    Spring
    Ali Smith
    Park Avenue Summer
    Park Avenue Summer
    Renée Rosen
    The Republic
    The Republic
    Joost de Vries
    Where the Crawdads Sing
    Where the Crawdads Sing
    Delia Owens
    Clock Dance
    Clock Dance
    Anne Tyler
    Walking on the Ceiling
    Walking on the Ceiling
    Aysegül Savas
    Up the Down Staircase
    Up the Down Staircase
    Bel Kaufman
    CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
    CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
    George Saunders
    All We Ever Wanted
    All We Ever Wanted
    Emily Giffin

    Praise

    “A taut and searing tale about race and small-town justice. . . . The history the men recount is, indeed, riveting in its insights into how racism harms everyone, crystallized in Mapes’ heartbroken tribute to his friend: ‘Hell of a man, that Brady Sims.’ Gaines tells a hell of a story.”  —Donna Seaman, Booklist

    Awards

    Hurston/Wright Legacy Award NOMINEE 2018

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    Download our Spring Fiction Sampler Now
    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    TASTE img

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    LitFlash

    The eBooks you want at the lowest prices

    Read it Forward

    Read it first. Pass it on!