54 Miles
A Novel
Published on 5. September 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
344 pages
978-1-57284-337-0 (ISBN)
Description
Set in mid-60s Harlem and Alabama, two families grapple with the promise and brutality of the civil rights era in the American South, reckoning with family secrets, unresolved trauma, and the heavy question of what justice demands.
The free-standing successor and next novel by the author of the critically acclaimed The Last Thing You Surrender, Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s 54 Miles launches forward twenty years to the fateful weeks of March 1965-from the infamous "Bloody Sunday" march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on the 7th to the triumphant entry into Montgomery on the 25th that climaxed the voting rights campaign-and the families who find themselves confronting the past amid another flashpoint in American history.
Young Adam, who has been raised in Harlem by his white father, George, and Black mother, Thelma, goes back to his parents' home state of Alabama to participate in the voting rights campaign, only to be brutalized in the Bloody Sunday melee. He is still recovering from this when he is struck a heavy emotional blow, learning for the first time-and in the cruelest way imaginable-of a family secret that sends him spiraling and plunging further into danger. To save him, and any hope for their relationship, Thelma is drawn back, for the first time in twenty years, to the South she both hates and fears, and to a reckoning that may result in an incalculable loss.
Meanwhile, Thelma's brother Luther is also spiraling, but in a different way. Forty-two years after his parents were lynched before his eyes, and twenty years after the man who led the lynch mob walked out of court a free man, Luther has just made a shocking discovery. He's found the murderer, Floyd Bitters, helpless and enfeebled in a rest home-unable to move or even to speak. The old man is literally at Luther's mercy. And Luther, who has never overcome this trauma that defined his life, is suddenly forced to relive it all again as he grapples with the awful question of what justice now demands.
The free-standing successor and next novel by the author of the critically acclaimed The Last Thing You Surrender, Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s 54 Miles launches forward twenty years to the fateful weeks of March 1965-from the infamous "Bloody Sunday" march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on the 7th to the triumphant entry into Montgomery on the 25th that climaxed the voting rights campaign-and the families who find themselves confronting the past amid another flashpoint in American history.
Young Adam, who has been raised in Harlem by his white father, George, and Black mother, Thelma, goes back to his parents' home state of Alabama to participate in the voting rights campaign, only to be brutalized in the Bloody Sunday melee. He is still recovering from this when he is struck a heavy emotional blow, learning for the first time-and in the cruelest way imaginable-of a family secret that sends him spiraling and plunging further into danger. To save him, and any hope for their relationship, Thelma is drawn back, for the first time in twenty years, to the South she both hates and fears, and to a reckoning that may result in an incalculable loss.
Meanwhile, Thelma's brother Luther is also spiraling, but in a different way. Forty-two years after his parents were lynched before his eyes, and twenty years after the man who led the lynch mob walked out of court a free man, Luther has just made a shocking discovery. He's found the murderer, Floyd Bitters, helpless and enfeebled in a rest home-unable to move or even to speak. The old man is literally at Luther's mercy. And Luther, who has never overcome this trauma that defined his life, is suddenly forced to relive it all again as he grapples with the awful question of what justice now demands.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s novel 54 MILES:"54 Miles is a stunning historical novel-heart-wrenching, propulsive, and beautifully written. Leonard Pitts, Jr. works powerful magic in this unforgettable story." -Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life
"In his stirring new novel, Leonard Pitts, Jr. takes us back to 1965 Selma, around and through the dizzying changes happening in society to tell a deeply reflective story of two families dealing not only with that era's upheavals, but also memories of a brutal and painful past." -Denise Nicholas, author of Freshwater Road
"One of the most gifted writers of historical fiction. . . . 54 Miles is a true literary tour de force." -Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author of Long Time Coming
"Historical fiction fans ought to snatch this up." -Publishers Weekly
"Pitts' mastery of the historical context pulls the reader into this bracing story." -Booklist
"[A] gripping historical novel." -Foreword Reviews, starred review
Praise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s novel THE LAST THING YOU SURRENDER:
"Seamlessly integrates impressive research into a compelling tale of America at war-overseas, at home, and within ourselves, as we struggle to find the better angels of our nature. Pitts poignantly illustrates ongoing racial and class tensions, and offers hope that we can overcome hatred by refusing to sacrifice dignity." -Booklist, starred review
"The Last Thing You Surrender is a story of our nation at war, with itself as well as tyranny across the globe. It's an American tapestry of hatred, compassion, fear, courage, and cruelties, leavened with the promise of triumph. A powerful story I will not soon forget." -James R. Benn, author of the Billy Boyle WWII Mystery series
"Leonard Pitts, Jr. does it again. He interweaves stories that grip you from beginning to end. Set during WWII, it shows how race relations in America haven't advanced much. The Last Thing You Surrender will have you entranced with the story, and it will stick with you even after you complete the last page." -Southfield Public Library
"I couldn't put it down, and it left me stunned! It's such a harsh novel, yet at the same time, it's a hopeful novel that is so relevant today. I'm already telling people about it." -Pete Mock, McIntyre's Books, Pittsboro, North Carolina
Praise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s novel GRANT PARK:
"Grant Park is layered, insightful, and passionate. Pitts's subtly explosive language grips readers with the delicate subject matter and earnestly implores them to understand that '[race] has always meant something and it always will.' The scars will remain, but stunningly powerful examinations like Grant Park can be the salve that helps heal open wounds." -Shelf-Awareness, starred review
"Leonard Pitts has written a taut thriller that weaves together a stark look at America's tortured racial past with a fast-paced tale of terrorist conspiracy and love rekindled." -Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun Times
". . . these ideas [are] perennially salient, and doubly so today, given a growing litany of American sorrows, from Ferguson to Charleston and beyond. . . . lays bare the extent to which Americans, black and white, still struggle to articulate the basic elements of our shared past." - Vinson Cunningham, New York Times Book Review
"The book is a page-turner, but also one that commands deep reflection on history, racism, and personal choices." -Blanca Torres, The Seattle Times
"A novel as significant as it is engrossing." -Booklist, starred review
"Pitts masterfully revisits [election night on November 4, 2008] and four decades of the civil rights struggle to create one of the most suspenseful and spectacular fictitious moments you'll experience this fall." -Patrik Henry Bass, Essence
"Pitts does a skillful job of building tension in the novel's historical sections as well as on Election Day. . . . He also does something not every political thriller writer does: builds believable, complex characters." - Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times
"[A] high-stakes, hard-charging political thriller. . . . The sharply etched characters, careful attention to detail, and rich newspaper lore propel Pitts's socially relevant novel." -Publishers Weekly
"And then there are those thrills-gasping, mouth-gaping page-turners that author Leonard Pitts Jr. weaves through another realism: truthful, brutal plot-lines about racial issues of the last five decades, mulling over exactly how far we've really come. That makes this will-they-live-or-won't-they nail-biter into something that also made me think, and I absolutely loved it." -Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez
"An important book, one that honestly examines the current, tumultuous racial divide in our country and demands we not turn away from its harsh realities." -Amy Canfield, Miami Herald
"Grant Park is a book that's both socially relevant and a lot of fun." -NewCity
"In the aftermath of this summer's racially motivated mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, by an avowed white supremacist, there's near-eerie prescience in Pitts' historical novel. . .[Grant Park], with urgency and passion, makes readers aware that the mistakes of the past are neglected at the future's peril." -Kirkus Reviews
"Grant Park is a monumental work, so all-encompassing in scope that reviewers will be hard-pressed to do it justice. Pitts's passion for a solution holds strong to the end of his novel even as his central character seems to give up. Readers will find Grant Park is real." -Bookpleasures.com
"Grant Park is a thriller, and readers will find themselves turning pages accordingly, although the interior stories of Bob and Malcolm regarding their younger selves may be the real action." -Brian Burnes, The Kansas City Star
Praise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s FREEMAN:
"A uniquely American epic. . . by a knowledgeable, compassionate and relentlessly truthful writer." -Howard Frank Mosher, Washington Post
"A pretty powerful love story." -Audie Cornish, All Things Considered
"Gorgeously written; a searing, wrenching read. Fans of Cold Mountain and Cormac McCarthy will love this story." -Jennifer Weiner, author of The Next Best Thing
"Leonard Pitts has a passion for history and a gift for storytelling. Both shine in this story of love and redemption." -Gwen Ifill, PBS, author of The Breakthrough
"Freeman is a myth of what's humanly possible, a needed story about little-known heroism, and a shadow thrown forward to the struggles of American families in the 21st century." -John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer
"A wonderful, moving, riveting novel." -Gabrielle Union, actress
"Post-Civil War America is fertile ground for novelists, but few have tilled it with such grace and majesty as Leonard Pitts." -Herb Boyd, co-editor of By Any Means Necessary-Malcolm X: Real, not Reinvented
"This book is an eye-opening commentary on devotion during this tangled chapter of American history." -Wendi Thomas, Memphis Commercial Appeal
"Leonard Pitts, Jr. crafts a novel as well as the great storytellers of our time. Freeman captured my attention from the very first sentence and my heart throughout." -Sybil Wilkes, The Tom Joyner Morning Show
"Freeman reminds us of our humanity." -Nancy Olson, owner of Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, North Carolina
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago, IL
United States
Product notice
With flaps
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 211 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
416 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-57284-337-0 (9781572843370)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2024
1st Edition
Agate B2
from
€40.99
Available for download
Person
Leonard Pitts, Jr., is the author of the novels The Last Thing You Surrender, Grant Park, Freeman, and Before I Forget, as well as two works of nonfiction. He was a journalist for more than forty years, including a long tenure as a nationally syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald. He is the winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, in addition to many other awards. Born and raised in Southern California, Pitts now lives in suburban Washington, DC.