James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk is a tender, devastating love story set against the backdrop of systemic racism and injustice. Following Tish and Fonny, a young Black couple in Harlem whose lives are upended when Fonny is falsely imprisoned, Baldwin creates a powerful meditation on love's capacity to endure impossible circumstances. The novel reveals how personal relationships become acts of resistance in a society designed to destroy them.

WHY WE PICKED IT: Because Baldwin showed that love is not just an emotion but a form of survival and defiance.

DETAILS: • Author: James Baldwin • Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group • Format: Paperback • Publication Date: May 1, 2006 • ISBN: 9780307275936 • Ships direct from distributor in 3–7 business days