Books › An American Marriage
Women's Prize for Fiction 2019
An American Marriage
503 pages
An intimate, devastating exploration of love and loyalty tested by the cruelties of systemic injustice.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like sitting in a room with three people you deeply care about, knowing that their happiness is mutually exclusive. It unfolds at a steady, deliberate pace, drawing you into the intimate, epistolary spaces between a husband and wife separated by an unimaginable, systemic cruelty. The mood is heavy with a melancholic tension, steeped in the heat of the American South and the suffocating weight of unfulfilled promises. The prose is elegant and piercingly empathetic, shifting seamlessly between perspectives so that your loyalties as a reader are constantly challenged and realigned. It is a deeply moving experience tailored for readers who crave complex domestic dramas where there are no easy villains, only flawed humans navigating the devastating intersections of race, class, and the fragility of love.
- Mood
- heartbreaking
- tense
- bittersweet
- heavy
- Tone
- empathetic
- intimate
- melancholic
- nuanced
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- fragility of love · systemic injustice · shifting loyalties · weight of obligation · the American Dream
- The writing
- Elegant, emotionally resonant, and deeply interior, shifting seamlessly between distinct, authentic character voices.
- The arc
- Moves from hopeful ambition to devastating rupture, ultimately settling into a complex, bittersweet acceptance of irrevocably changed realities.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave complex, character-driven domestic dramas that tackle heavy social realities without losing their intimate, empathetic focus.
Content notes
- wrongful imprisonment
- systemic racism
- infidelity
- grief
About the book
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy's time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.
Description from Open Library.
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