After fifty years of guilt over his brother’s brutal murder in Civil Rights–era Mississippi, Warren Williams decides to renews his fight to bring the men responsible to justice. His efforts put him face -to- face with one of the murderers, Earl Olsen, in a remote Ontario town, where a contest of wits will end in death. One Night in Mississippi is the story of a young activist named Graden Williams, who was brutally murdered in Mississippi during the sixties. After the perpetrators were charged but quickly released, Graden’s brother, Warren, drifted aimlessly for decades, estranged from the rest of his family and struggling with guilt over his brother’s death. But when the U.S. Justice Department begins re-opening cases like Graden’s more than forty years later, he dedicates himself to bringing Graden’s killers to justice. A phoned-in tip after a television appearance leads Warren to a remote town in northern Ontario, where he meets Earl Olsen, the only murderer still at large, who turns out to be very different than what Warren had expected.

One Night in Mississippi

Literature & Fiction

Shreve, Craig

United States

TAP Books

Set in late 16th-century Africa, India, Portugal, and Japan, The African Samurai is a powerful historical novel based on the true story of Yasuke, Japan's first foreign-born samurai and the only samurai of African descent--for readers of Esi Edugyan and Lawrence Hill. In 1579, a Portuguese trade ship sails into port at Kuchinotsu, Japan, loaded with European wares and weapons. On board is Father Alessandro Valignano, an Italian priest and Jesuit missionary whose authority in central and east Asia is second only to the pope's. Beside him is his protector, a large and imposing East African man. Taken from his village as a boy, sold as a slave to Portuguese mercenaries, and forced to fight in wars in India, the young but experienced soldier is haunted by memories of his past. From Kuchinotsu, Father Valignano leads an expedition pushing inland toward the capital city of Kyoto. A riot brings his protector in front of the land's most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga is preparing a campaign to complete the unification of a nation that's been torn apart by over one hundred years of civil war. In exchange for permission to build a church, Valignano "gifts" his protector to Nobunaga, and the young East African man is reminded once again that he is less of a human and more of a thing to be traded and sold. After pledging his allegiance to the Japanese warlord, the two men from vastly different worlds develop a trust and respect for one another. The young soldier is granted the role of samurai, a title that has never been given to a foreigner; he is also given a new name: Yasuke. Not all are happy with Yasuke's ascension. There are whispers that he may soon be given his own fief, his own servants, his own samurai to command. But all of his dreams hinge on his ability to protect his new lord from threats both military and political, and from enemies both without and within. A magnificent reconstruction and moving study of a lost historical figure, The African Samurai is an enthralling narrative about the tensions between the East and the West and the making of modern Japan, from which rises the most unlikely hero.

The African Samurai: A Novel

Simon&Schuster

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shreve, Craig. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Shreve, Craig

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shreve, Craig. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

One Night in Mississippi

The African Samurai: A Novel