Brothers and Keepers

John Edgar Wideman

From Shelf: Black Stories and Black History

The seminal memoir from John Edgar Wideman, one of the standout black American writers of the modern age and winner of the 2017 Prix Femina Etranger

Brothers and Keepers is John Edgar Wideman's seminal memoir about two brothers - one an award-winning novelist, the other a fugitive. Wideman recalls the capture of his younger brother Robby, details the subsequent trials that resulted in a sentence of life in prison, and provides vivid views of the American prison system.A gripping, unsettling account, Brothers and Keepers weighs the bonds of blood, tenderness and guilt that connect him to his brother and measures the distance that lies between them.