An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Some love stories stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page. This is one of them.

Meet Celestial and Roy—newlyweds embodying the American Dream. He’s a rising young executive. She’s an artist on the cusp of something big. Their future glows bright. Until, in a single devastating moment, it doesn’t.

Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. What follows is a profound, unforgettable exploration of love tested by forces beyond anyone’s control. As the years stretch on, Celestial finds herself unmoored, drawn toward Andre—her childhood friend and Roy’s best man. And when Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, three lives collide with all the hope and heartbreak that entails.

This one arrived on our shelves with quite the story of its own. An Oprah’s Book Club 2018 Selection. Winner of the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work—Fiction. Longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award. A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book.

Even Barack Obama called it “a moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.” The New York Times Book Review named it “haunting . . . beautifully written,” while USA Today declared it “brilliant and heartbreaking . . . unforgettable.”

It’s a tender, timely meditation on race, class, marriage, and the quiet ways we hold on—and let go.

Perfect for a rainy afternoon by the cove, when the sea air rolls in and you’ve got nowhere to be but inside these pages.

Come linger a while. This one’s worth the visit.

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