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A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying

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Written by Ernest J. GainesAuthor Alerts: Random House will alert you to new works by Ernest J. Gaines

  • Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage
  • On Sale: September 28, 1997
  • Price: $13.00
  • ISBN: 978-0-375-70270-9 (0-375-70270-9)
Also available as an unabridged audio CD, eBook and a hardcover.
about this book

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction

A Lesson Before Dying, set in a small Cajun community in the late 1940s, is about the bond forged between two men--Jefferson, convicted of murder and sentenced to die; and Grant Wiggins, a college graduate returning to his hometown to teach. Through their friendship and the wisdom they impart upon one another, they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting--and defying--the expected. Gaines brings to this novel a rich sense of place and a deep understanding of the human psyche.

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