Travel Bug Public Book Group

Discussion group will be hosted in Travel Bug the last Tuesday of the month by Aimee Gwynne Franklyn, an independent curator, literary enthusiast, art consultant and producer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Everyone welcome! A glass of beer or wine on us!

James by Percival Everett

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. Through Jim’s eyes, the narrative delves into the harsh realities of slavery and the struggle for autonomy, while also challenging the reader to reconsider the assumptions embedded in Twain’s classic work. In an Interview at The Santa Fe International Literary Festival, Everett talked about his novel saying that “I hope that no one thinks that my novel is about slavery. There’s a difference between writing a story about people who happen to be slaves and writing a story about slavery”.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.