James: Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

‘Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them’ – Roddy Doyle

‘A brilliant retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of the enslaved Jim’ – The Observer

James is a profound and ferociously funny novel from one of our greatest living writers, Percival Everett.

The Sunday Times Bestseller
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award
Finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he flees to nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town.

So begins a dangerous and transcendent journey along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. And together, the unlikely pair embark on the most life-changing odyssey of them all . . .

A ‘Book of the Year’ in The Observer, The Times & Sunday Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Spectator, New Statesman, Independent, TLS, The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, i newspaper, The Economist, The Irish Times, The New York Times, TIME and The New Yorker

‘Who should read this book? Every single person in the country’ – Ann Patchett

‘My favourite novel this year’ – Salman Rushdie