Marlon James

Winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize A recipient of the 2015 American Book Award One of the Top 10 Books of 2014 Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times" A "New York Times Book Review" Notable Book Named a best book of the year by: "The New York Times" "Chicago Tribune" "The Washington Post" "The Boston Globe" "Time" "Newsweek" "The Huffington Post" "The Seattle Times" "The Houston Chronicle" "Publishers Weekly" "Library Journal" "Popsugar" "BookPage" "BuzzFeed Books" "Salon" "Kansas City Star" "L Magazine " A thrilling, ambitious . . . intense ("Los Angeles Times") novelthat explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the late 1970s. In "A Brief History of Seven Killings," Marlon James combines masterful storytelling with his unrivaled skill at characterization and his meticulous eye for detail to forge a novel of dazzling ambition and scope. On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert to ease political tensions in Kingston, seven unnamed gunmen stormed the singer s house, machine guns blazing. The attack wounded Marley, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. Little was officially released about the gunmen, but rumors abounded regarding the assassins fates. "A Brief History of Seven Killings" is James s fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time in Jamaica s history and beyond. Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters assassins, drug dealers, journalists, and even ghosts James brings to life the people who walked the streets of 1970s Kingston, who dominated the crack houses of 1980s New York, and who reemerged into a radically altered Jamaica of the 1990s. Brilliantly inventive, "A Brief History of Seven Killings" is an exhilarating ("The New York Times") epic that s been called a tour de force ("The Wall Street Journal")."

A startling, hard-edged dissection of slavery and a tour de force of both voice and storytelling 'A story of such depth and humanity that you’ll want to spend hours picking apart the nuances even as you recover emotionally from this wrenching read.' Vogue By the Man Booker-winning author Marlon James, this is the powerful story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century. Even at her birth, the Night Women – a clandestine council of fierce slaves plotting an island-wide revolt – recognize a dark force in her that they treat with both reverence and fear. But as Lilith comes of age and begins to understand her own feelings and identity, she dares to push at the edges of what is imaginable for the life of a slave woman. And as rebellions simmer and unspoken jealousies intensify, Lilith’s powers and sense of purpose threaten not just her own destiny, but the destinies of all the slave women in Jamaica.

--Marlon James won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his third novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings. --Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize"A powerful first novel . . . Writing with assurance and control, James uses his small-town drama to suggest the larger anguish of a postcolonial society struggling for its own identity." --New York Times, Editors' Choice "Elements coalesce in a Jamaican stew spicier than jerk chicken. First novelist James moves effortlessly between lyrical patois and trenchant observations . . . It's 150-proof literary rum guaranteed to intoxicate and enchant. Highly recommended." --Library Journal, Starred ReviewThis stunning debut novel tells the story of a biblical struggle in a remote Jamaican village in 1957. With language as taut as classic works by Cormac McCarthy, and a richness reminiscent of early Toni Morrison, Marlon James reveals his unique narrative command that will firmly establish his place as one of today's freshest, most talented young writers. In the village of Gibbeah--where certain women fly and certain men protect secrets with their lives--magic coexists with religion, and good and evil are never as they seem. In this town, a battle is fought between two men of God. The story begins when a drunkard named Hector Bligh (the "Rum Preacher") is dragged from his pulpit by a man calling himself "Apostle" York. Handsome and brash, York demands a fire-and-brimstone church, but sets in motion a phenomenal and deadly struggle for the soul of Gibbeah itself. John Crow's Devil is a novel about religious mania, redemption, sexual obsession, and the eternal struggle inside all of us between the righteous and the wicked.

From the author of the National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf and the WINNER of the 2015 Man Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings "An undeniable success." -- The New York Times Book Review A true triumph of voice and storytelling, The Book of Night Women rings with both profound authenticity and a distinctly contemporary energy. It is the story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century. Even at her birth, the slave women around her recognize a dark power that they- and she-will come to both revere and fear. The Night Women, as they call themselves, have long been plotting a slave revolt, and as Lilith comes of age they see her as the key to their plans. But when she begins to understand her own feelings, desires, and identity, Lilith starts to push at the edges of what is imaginable for the life of a slave woman, and risks becoming the conspiracy's weak link. But the real revelation of the book-the secret to the stirring imagery and insistent prose-is Marlon James himself, a young writer at once breath­takingly daring and wholly in command of his craft.