Our read for May is James: A Novel by Percival Everett. While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place, Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father. Thus begins their dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River.