Click to receive personalized book recommendations daily.
Before you go...
Check Out These
21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
See the List
Best Seller
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

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

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 $11.99

      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
    Mozart and Leadbelly
    Bloodline
    A Lesson Before Dying
    Of Love and Dust
    See all books by Ernest J. Gaines

    Also by Ernest J. Gaines

    My Grandpa and the Haint
    Mozart and Leadbelly
    Bloodline
    A Lesson Before Dying
    Of Love and Dust
    See all books by Ernest J. Gaines

    Also by Ernest J. Gaines

    My Grandpa and the Haint
    Mozart and Leadbelly
    Bloodline
    A Lesson Before Dying
    Of Love and Dust
    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

    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Also in Literary Fiction

    ‹ ›
    Love and Other Consolation Prizes
    Love and Other Consolation Prizes
    Jamie Ford
    The Great Believers
    The Great Believers
    Rebecca Makkai
    Tell the Machine Goodnight
    Tell the Machine Goodnight
    Katie Williams
    The Melody
    The Melody
    Jim Crace
    Michael Chabon's The Escapist: Pulse-Pounding Thrills
    Michael Chabon’s The Escapist: Pulse-Pounding Thrills
    Matt Kindt, Will Eisner, Howard Chaykin and Michael Chabon
    My Purple Scented Novel
    My Purple Scented Novel
    Ian McEwan
    Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
    Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
    Haruki Murakami
    The Lost Letter
    The Lost Letter
    Jillian Cantor
    Perennials
    Perennials
    Mandy Berman
    The Only Café
    The Only Café
    Linden MacIntyre
    You Should Have Left
    You Should Have Left
    Daniel Kehlmann
    The Real Michael Swann
    The Real Michael Swann
    Bryan Reardon
    The Book of Essie
    The Book of Essie
    Meghan MacLean Weir
    A Place for Us
    A Place for Us
    Fatima Farheen Mirza
    Good Trouble
    Good Trouble
    Joseph O’Neill
    Jigsaw
    Jigsaw
    Sybille Bedford
    The Confusion of Languages
    The Confusion of Languages
    Siobhan Fallon
    The Silent Wife
    The Silent Wife
    A. S. A. Harrison
    The Weight of This World
    The Weight of This World
    David Joy
    Florida
    Florida
    Lauren Groff
    Days of Awe
    Days of Awe
    A. M. Homes
    Sweet and Low
    Sweet and Low
    Nick White
    Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
    Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
    Gail Honeyman
    What We Lose
    What We Lose
    Zinzi Clemmons
    Do Not Become Alarmed
    Do Not Become Alarmed
    Maile Meloy
    Small Country
    Small Country
    Gaël Faye
    The Good Son
    The Good Son
    You-Jeong Jeong
    The Golden House
    The Golden House
    Salman Rushdie
    In the Distance with You
    In the Distance with You
    Carla Guelfenbein
    There There
    There There
    Tommy Orange
    Social Creature
    Social Creature
    Tara Isabella Burton
    Here Kitty Kitty
    Here Kitty Kitty
    Jardine Libaire
    Saints for All Occasions
    Saints for All Occasions
    J. Courtney Sullivan
    The Dante Chamber
    The Dante Chamber
    Matthew Pearl
    Quiet Until the Thaw
    Quiet Until the Thaw
    Alexandra Fuller
    Little Disasters
    Little Disasters
    Randall Klein
    Unworthy
    Unworthy
    Antonio Monda
    The High Season
    The High Season
    Judy Blundell
    Setting Free the Bears
    Setting Free the Bears
    John Irving
    The 158-Pound Marriage
    The 158-Pound Marriage
    John Irving
    The Water-Method Man
    The Water-Method Man
    John Irving
    Selected Stories of Grace Paley
    Selected Stories of Grace Paley
    Grace Paley
    Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen
    Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen
    Alison Weir
    The Awkward Age
    The Awkward Age
    Francesca Segal
    Augustown
    Augustown
    Kei Miller

    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

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

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Books for Better Living

    Inspiration for the best you

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    TASTE img

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    Signature

    Making Well-Read Sense of the World

    LitFlash

    The eBooks you want at the lowest prices

    Read it Forward

    Read it first. Pass it on!
    First to Read

    First to Read

    Early access to Penguin Random House’s hottest new titles
    Unbound Worlds

    Unbound Worlds

    Exploring the science fiction and fantasy universe