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The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines
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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

Part of Vintage Contemporaries

Paperback $15.00

Aug 29, 2017 | 128 Pages

Ebook $11.99

Aug 29, 2017 | 192 Pages

Audiobook Download $12.50

Aug 29, 2017 | 173 Minutes

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    The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines
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    Aug 29, 2017 | 128 Pages
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    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 | $11.99
    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

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    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

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