Ernest J. Gaines
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
A Lesson Before Dying, is set in a small Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shoot out in which three men are killed; the only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, who left his hometown for the university, has returned to the plantation school to teach. As he struggles with his decision whether to stay or escape to another state, his aunt and...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The murder of Beau Boutan in the compound of a backwoods Louisiana plantation sparks an orgy of local confession. Everyone, from the plantation's white owner, Candy Marshall, to more than a dozen old black men, gathered with recently-fired shotguns, claims to have fired the fatal shot, and prepares to defend themselves against the Boutan family's expected act of vengeance.