*A Book of the Month Club Pick* NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK IN ESSENCE MAGAZINE THE MILLIONS
AND BOOKISH Don't Cry for Me is a perfect song.-Jesmyn Ward A Black father makes amends with
his gay son through letters written on his deathbed in this wise and penetrating novel of
empathy and forgiveness for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates Robert Jones Jr. and Alice Walker As
Jacob lies dying he begins to write a letter to his only son Isaac. They have not met or
spoken in many years and there are things that Isaac must know. Stories about his ancestral
legacy in rural Arkansas that extend back to slavery. Secrets from Jacob's tumultuous
relationship with Isaac's mother and the shame he carries from the dissolution of their family.
Tragedies that informed Jacob's role as a father and his reaction to Isaac's being gay. But
most of all Jacob must share with Isaac the unspoken truths that reside in his heart. He must
give voice to the trauma that Isaac has inherited. And he must create a space for the two to
find peace. With piercing insight and profound empathy acclaimed author Daniel Black
illuminates the lived experiences of Black fathers and queer sons offering an authentic and
ultimately hopeful portrait of reckoning and reconciliation. Spare as it is sweeping poetic as
it is compulsively readable Don't Cry for Me is a monumental novel about one family grappling
with love's hard edges and the unexpected places where hope and healing take flight.
