This 1953 novel is not only a noiresque literary page-turner, but a blistering critique on race and class.
BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE STREET
With a new introduction by Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie
'Petry is the writer we have been waiting for . . . insightful, prescient and unputdownable' TAYARI JONES
'A masterpiece' NEW YORK TIMES
'A powerful and moving book . . . A book to watch' KIRKUS REVIEWS
It's past midnight, and thick fog rolls in from the river like smoke. Link Williams is standing on the dock when he hears quick footsteps approaching, and the gasp of a woman too terrified to scream. After chasing off her pursuer, he takes the woman to a nearby bar to calm her nerves, and as they enter, it's as if the oxygen has left the room: in the dim light, they can see that he's Black and she's white.
Link is a brilliant Dartmouth graduate, who, because of the lack of opportunities available to him, tends bar; Camilo is a wealthy, married heiress who has crossed the town's racial divide to relieve the tedium of her privileged life. Brought together by chance, Link and Camilo draw each other into furtive encounters that violate the rigid and uncompromising social codes of their times.
Ann Petry's novels
The Street and
The Narrows are masterpieces of social realism - volatile but exacting, heartbreaking but often brutally funny ...
The Narrows is capacious, elliptical and immersive. Slowly and comprehensively, it envelops you ...The scenes seethe with rage, and yet the book's sheer profusion makes it feel joyous and celebratory
