Isaac's Song - Hardcover

by Daniel Black (Author)

*A Washington Post Best Book of January 2025*
*A Southern Review of Books Best Southern Book of January 2025*
*A Book Riot 13 of the Best New Queer Books Out in January 2025*
*A Book of the Month Pick for January 2025*
*From the Viral Clark Atlanta University Commencement Speaker*
*From the Georgia Author of the Year Award Winner*

"Black beautifully chronicles one man's heroic quest to find the source of his generational trauma, a cure for his pain, and ultimately, himself."--Michael Harriot, New York Times bestselling author of Black AF History

The beloved author of Don't Cry for Me and Perfect Peace returns with a poignant, emotionally exuberant novel about a young queer Black man finding his voice in 1980s Chicago--a novel of family, forgiveness and perseverance, for fans of The Great Believers and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Isaac is at a crossroads in his young life. Growing up in Missouri, the son of a caustic, hard-driving father, he was conditioned to suppress his artistic pursuits and physical desires, notions that didn't align with a traditional view of masculinity. But now, in late '80s Chicago, Isaac has finally carved out a life of his own. He is sensitive and tenderhearted and has built up the courage to seek out a community. Yet just as he begins to embrace who he is, two social catalysts--the AIDS crisis and Rodney King's attack--collectively extinguish his hard-earned joy.

At a therapist's encouragement, Isaac begins to write down his story. In the process, he taps into a creative energy that will send him on a journey back to his family, his ancestral home in Arkansas and the inherited trauma of the nation's dark past. But a surprise discovery will either unlock the truths he's seeking or threaten to derail the life he's fought so hard to claim.

Poignant, sweeping and luminously told, Isaac's Song is a return to the beloved characters of Don't Cry for Me and a high-water mark in the career of an award-winning author.