If Beale Street Could Talk

First published in 1974, this novel is narrated by Tish Rivers, a young Black woman in New York, who is pregnant by her fiance Fonny, a sculptor jailed after a white woman names him in a rape. Tish's family and Fonny's mother Sharon work to find a witness and pay a lawyer while Fonny waits in prison. The story moves between Harlem, the Village, and a trip to Puerto Rico. Love, the justice system, and the pressure on two families are the subject. The book is a contemporary urban novel, not a documentary of a single case.

Quarter-bound in blue cloth with monochrome picture printed textured paper covers. Orange endpapers. Slipcase printed with a wrap-around colour picture.