While An American Marriage confronts thorny issues around race and the criminal justice system it is, at heart, a love story. “Tayari Jones is a bard of the modern South, a writer whose skill at weaving stories is matched only by her compassion for her characters. She never ignores their flaws, their perfectly human tendency toward self-justification, but she also captures their longing to be kind, to be just, to somehow behave well despite the contradictory desires of the heart.” -Ron Charles, Washington Post spun with tender patience by Jones, who cradles each of these characters in a story that pulls our sympathies in different directions. is both sweeping and intimate-at once an unsparing exploration of what it means to be black in America and a remarkably lifelike portrait of a marriage.” - The New Yorker It is beautifully written, with many allusions to black music and culture - including the everyday poetry of the African-American community that begs to be heard.” - The New York Times Book Review

is a clear vision of the quiet devastation of a family. “Tayari Jones’s wise and compassionate new novel, An American Marriage. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is a moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.” -Barack Obama “One of my favorite parts of summer is deciding what to read when things slow down just a bit, whether it’s on a vacation with family or just a quiet afternoon. Longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction less …Ī New York Times and Washington Post Notable BookĪ 2018 Best of the Year Selection of NPR * Time * Bustle * O, the Oprah Magazine * The Dallas Morning News * An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward-with hope and pain-into the future.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career.

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South.

An american marriage jones