Robert Jones Jr’s debut novel The Prophets has become an instant New York Times bestseller. Listen to the audiobook excerpt below to find out what all the buzz is about!

‘A new kind of epic … A grand achievement … While The Prophets’ dreamy realism recalls the work of Toni Morrison … its penetrating focus on social dynamics stands out more singularly.’ –Entertainment Weekly

The Prophets is a singular and stunning novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.

Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man – a fellow slave – seeks to gain favour by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony.

With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr, fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries – of ancestors and future generations to come – culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets masterfully reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.

Listen to an excerpt, read by Karen Chilton:

Categories Fiction International

Tags Audiobooks Book excerpts Book extracts Jonathan Ball Publishers Robert Jones Jr The Prophets