A calamity of souls / David Baldacci.
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : GCP, [2024]Copyright date: ©2024Edition: First editionDescription: 416 pages ; 23 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781538765029
- 9781538768341
- 9781538768358
- 813/.54 23/eng/20231002
- PS3552.A446 C35 2024
Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Phillipsburg Free Public Library | Adult Fiction | New Books | FIC BALDACCI | Checked out | 05/16/2024 | 36748002555433 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, a racially-charged murder case sets a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully-accused Black defendants in this courtroom drama from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.
Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.
Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for everyone. She comes to Freeman County and enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in the Commonwealth. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era.
Lee and DuBose could not be more dissimilar. On their own, neither one can stop the prosecution's deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair. But together, the pair fight for what once seemed impossible: a chance for a fair trial and true justice.
Over a decade in the writing, A Calamity of Souls breathes richly imagined and detailed life into a bygone era, taking the reader through a world that will seem both foreign and familiar.
"When two wealthy white landowners are found dead, the whole country immediately thinks it must be Jerome Washington, the hired help, who killed them. He was standing over the bodies when the police responded to an anonymous call and the only one on the property at the time of death. As far as the state is concerned, it's an open and shut case. Jack Lee, born and raised in Freeman County, knows that every man deserves a solid defense and agrees to be Jerome's lawyer, against everyone's better judgement. But as the facts of the case unfold, it becomes more and more obvious to Jack that this trial isn't about uncovering the truth and is instead a racially charged set up. And the whole town is calling for Jerome to receive the death penalty. Jack is soon ensnared in a system that's doing everything it can to prevent him from saving Jerome's life, and even he thinks all is lost. Then Desiree DuBose, a lawyer from up North with a social justice agenda, comes to town and quickly joins as co- council, blasting the case all over the news to gain support. But the citizens of Freeman County don't want to wait for the final verdict and Jack and Desiree find themselves in the crosshairs. Jack will need to stop at nothing to prove that Jerome is innocent even at the risk of his own life... and his family's"-- Provided by publisher.