Just Above My Head

Baldwin, James & Jones, Robert Jr. Paperback, 608 pages James Baldwin’s final novel—“the work of a born storyteller at the height of his powers” (The New York Times Book Review)—follows one family through three decades of struggle and joy. “Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again.” James Baldwin’s final novel opens with the stark grief of a brother mourning a brother. Arthur Montana, celebrated gospel singer, has been found collapsed in a London pub at the age of thirty-nine. His brother, Hall, is left to write the story of his life, his talent, and his great love. Retracing the past three decades of their history, Hall writes with tender passion about the central characters in Arthur’s life: Sister Julia, a “fire-baptized” child evangelist called to the ministry when she was nine, whose life seems considerably less “redeemed” out of the pulpit; and Julia’s brother Jimmy, Arthur’s most gifted accompanist, the catalyst of his success as a singer, and his devoted lover. An unforgettable epic drama spanning the distance from the Apollo in Harlem to the Olympia in Paris, Just Above My Head is a magnificent tale of personal courage, commitment, and profound love filled with all the lyricism, violence, and compassion that comprise the human condition.