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The Good Lord Bird (National Book Award Winner): A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Soon to be a Showtime limited series starring Ethan Hawke and Daveed Diggs Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction From the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong (an Oprah Book Club pick) and The Color of Water comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade—and who must pass as a girl to survive. Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856--a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces--when legendary abolitionist John Brown arrives. When an argument between Brown and Henry's master turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town--along with Brown, who believes Henry to be a girl and his good luck charm. Over the ensuing months, Henry, whom Brown nicknames Little Onion, conceals his true identity to stay alive. Eventually Brown sweeps him into the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859--one of the great catalysts for the Civil War. An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride's meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival.
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“JamesMcBride’s witty, imaginative take on history has a hero as inventive asHuckleberry Finn and as comical as Little Big Man…Michael Boatman gives anamazing performance as ten-year-old Henry/Henrietta recounts his time withabolitionist John Brown. Boatman takes us on a wild ride, giving an authenticring to such real characters as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. Hemasterfully delivers McBride’s wonderful wordplay—from Henry’s wisecrackingattitude to John Brown’s Bible-quoting orations. A great story. A greatnarration. Listening at its finest. Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
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“Wildly entertaining…A rollicking saga about one of America’s earliest abolitionists.”
— People (4-stars) -
“Outrageously entertaining…The Good Lord Bird rockets toward its inevitable and, yes, knee-slapping conclusion. Never has mayhem been this much of a humdinger.”
— USA Today -
“A brilliant romp of a novel…[McBride] pulls off his portrait masterfully, like a modern-day Mark Twain: evoking sheer glee with every page.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“A boisterous, highly entertaining, altogether original novel.”
— Washington Post -
“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 -
“A fascinating mix of history and mystery.”
— Essence -
“A story that’s difficult to put down.”
— Ebony -
“A superbly written novel....McBride...transcends history and makes it come alive.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“Absorbing and darkly funny.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“As in Huck Finn, this novel comes in through the back door of history, telling you something you might not know by putting you in the heat of the action…It is a compelling story and an important one, told in a voice that is fresh and apolitical.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune -
“An irrepressibly fun read.”
— Seattle Times -
“Both breezy and sharp, a rare combination outside of Twain. You should absolutely read it.”
— New York Magazine -
“An impressively deep comedy...It’s a view of the antebellum world refreshingly free of pieties and full of questions about the capacity of human beings to act on their sense of right and wrong, about why the world is the way it is, and what any one of us can do to make it better. It’s the rare comic novel that delves so deep.”
— Salon -
“Outrageously funny, sad…McBride puts a human face on a nation at its most divided.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“[A] masterful performance that lives up to all the power and humor of McBride’s words.”
— Library Journal (audio review)
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
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An AudioFile Editors’ Pick, September 2013
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A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2013
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Winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction
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New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books, 2013
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A USA Today Best Book for Summer 2013
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A Los Angeles Times bestseller
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A 2013 New York Times Editor’s Choice
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A 2013 Washington Post Top 10 Book for Fiction
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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An Amazon Top 100 Book of 2013
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A Library Journal Best Book of 2013
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A 2013 Oprah Magazine Top 10 Book of the Year
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One of NPR’s Great Reads for Summer 2013
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Winner of National Book Award, 2013
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About James McBride
James McBride is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller and Oprah’s Book Club selection Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird. He is a recipient of a National Humanities Medal as well as an accomplished musician and a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.
About Michael Boatman
Michael Boatman is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and twice winner of the prestigious Audie Award for narration. He is a versatile television, film, and stage actor whose work on the hit TV show Spin City garnered him a GLAAD Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and nominations for two NAACP Image Awards. For his work playing Stanley Babson on the long-running HBO series ARLI$$, he was nominated five times for the Image Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.