JUST ABOVE MY HEAD

This is the work of a born storyteller at the height of his powers Edmund White, Washington Post When Arthur Montana, world-renowned Emperor of Soul, is found dead in a London pub, his grief-stricken brother looks back over thirty years in the lives of their group of friends: from their childhood spent preaching and singing in Harlem churches, to their struggles with war and poverty, and their encounters with wealth, love and fame. Set against a vividly drawn background of the civil rights movement of the sixties, Baldwins last novel is a monumental saga that ranges from New York to Paris, Korea to Africa to portray how profoundly racial politics can shape life, especially in the private business of love. Warm, melancholy . . . Hall Montanas voice is the conduit for Baldwins most distinctive quality as a writer, his abundant tenderness The New York Times