An American Marriage

Celestial and Roy are newlyweds with a bright future—she’s a rising artist, he’s a young executive—living in the promise of the New South and chasing the American Dream. But their world shatters when Roy is wrongfully convicted of a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Sentenced to twelve years, he’s torn from the life they were just beginning to build.

As time passes, Celestial, adrift and grieving, turns to Andre—her childhood friend and the best man at their wedding—for comfort and connection. Bound by loyalty but pulled by changing hearts, she tries to navigate a love stretched to its limits.

When Roy’s conviction is unexpectedly overturned after five years, he returns home ready to reclaim his place by Celestial’s side. But the life he longs for no longer exists as it did, and the three must confront the past, the choices they've made, and the fragile truths that remain.

A profound exploration of love, loyalty, and injustice, An American Marriage is both an intimate portrait of a fractured relationship and a powerful reflection on the forces that can tear lives apart.

 
Longlisted for The 2018 National Book Award for Fiction.