Set in 1970s Harlem, the story follows nineteen-year-old Tish Rivers and her fiancé, Fonny Hunt, an aspiring sculptor. Their plans for a life together are interrupted when Fonny is falsely accused of rape by a white policeman and incarcerated. Tish, who is pregnant, turns to her family and Fonny’s father to secure his release. They navigate a legal system built on racial prejudice, attempting to discredit a manufactured identification and raise funds for a defense attorney before the child is born.
Readers interested in the intersections of systemic injustice and domestic resilience choose this book to see how bureaucratic cruelty impacts private kinship. It provides a precise depiction of how institutional racism functions as a physical wall between individuals. A reader walks away with a clear understanding of the tactical sacrifices required for survival within an adversarial judicial framework, as well as the specific psychological toll that false imprisonment exerts on both the accused and their immediate relatives.
- Published
- 1974
- Language
- EN
