When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New  Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away  until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death  to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature  know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down  the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the  Free States and beyond. 

Brimming with the electrifying humor and  lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this  brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency,  intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.