The Good Lord Bird

'Wildly entertaining. A rollicking saga about one of America's earliest abolitionists'

People

'Just so brilliant'

John Green

Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856.

When an argument between Henry's master and legendary abolitionist John Brown turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town - along with Brown, who believes Henry to be a girl and his good luck charm.

An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure story and a moving exploration of identity and survival.

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

A brilliant romp of a novel . . . McBride pulls off his portrait masterfully, like a modern-day Mark Twain New York Times Book Review
Outrageously entertaining . . . rockets toward its inevitable and, yes, knee-slapping conclusion. Never has mayhem been this much of a humdinger USA Today
The Good Lord Bird is just so brilliant. It had everything I want in a novel and left me feeling both transported and transformed -- John Green
You may know the story of John Brown's unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, but author James McBride's retelling of the events leading up to it is so imaginative, you'll race to the finish NPR
Wildly entertaining . . . a rollicking saga about one of America's earliest abolitionists People
McBride delivers another tour de force . . . A fascinating mix of history and mystery Essence
Both breezy and sharp, a rare combination outside of Twain. You should absolutely read it New York Magazine
Superbly written . . . McBride transcends history and makes it come alive Chicago Tribune
Absorbing and darkly funny San Francisco Chronicle

James McBride is the author of the New York Times-bestselling Oprah's Book Club selection Deacon King Kong, the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird, the million-copy-bestselling memoir The Colour of Water, the novels Song Yet Sung and Miracle at St. Anna, the story collection Five-Carat Soul, and Kill 'Em and Leave, a biography of James Brown. The recipient of a National Humanities Medal and an accomplished musician, McBride is also a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.

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