A Lesson Before Dying
Ernest J. Gaines(Author)
Serpent's Tail (Publisher)
Published on 24. September 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-85242-617-0 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
A Lesson Before Dying is a compassionate and deeply moving novel, the story of a young black man sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, and a teacher who tries to impart to him his learning and pride before the execution. In a small Cajun community in the late 1940s, a young black man named Jefferson is an unwitting party to a liquor store shootout in which three men are killed. The only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wlggins is the teacher at the plantation black school. As he struggles with his decision whether to stay or escape to another state, his aunt and Jefferson's godmother persuade him to visit Jefferson in his cell in an attempt to teach him to die like a man. The two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting - and defying - the expected.
Reviews / Votes
`Enormously moving...; Gaines unerringly evokes the place and time about which he writes'; Los Angeles TimesMore details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-85242-617-0 (9781852426170)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions

Ernest J. Gaines
A Lesson Before Dying
Book
02/2001
Serpent's Tail
€29.89
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Ernest J Gaines was born on a plantation in Louisiana. His previous books include The Autobiography of Jane Pittman, A Gathering of Old Men, In My Father's House, A Long Day in November, Bloodline and Of Love and Dust. His is writer-in-residence at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.