'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' – Roddy Doyle James is a profound and ferociously funny novel from one of our greatest living writers, Percival Everett. The Sunday Times Bestseller Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Finalist for the Orwell Prize for Fiction The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he flees to nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. So begins a dangerous and transcendent journey along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise. And together, the unlikely pair embark on the most life-changing odyssey of them all . . . A 'Book of the Year' in The Observer, The Times & Sunday Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Spectator, New Statesman, Independent, TLS, The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, i newspaper, The Economist, The Irish Times, The New York Times, TIME and The New Yorker **'Who should read this book? Every single person in the country' – Ann Patchett 'Scorchingly funny and action-packed' – The Sunday Times, 'Books of the Year' 'This may be Everett's best book yet' – Bonnie Garmus 'Playful and viciously comic' – The Telegraph, 'Books of the Year' 'My favourite novel this year' – Salman Rushdie** James might be the book of the year and ought to have won the Booker Prize' – The Telegraph, 'Books of the Year' 'Unforgiving and compassionate, beautiful and brutal, a tragedy and a farce' – Hernan Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust