Ernest J. Gaines - A Lesson Before Dying

This is a strong novel set in Louisiana in Cajun country in the late 1940's about a black man unfairly sentenced to death and the jailhouse friendship between him and Grant Wiggins, a local school teacher. Jefferson, the young black man, has an aunt who wants him to become a man before he dies in the electric chair and Grant is given the job making Jefferson a man. Grant, with personal issues of his own, and Jefferson forge a bond leading to the inevitable conclusion. Both men come to understand the simple heroism of resisting and defying the expected. This is powerful stuff and well worth reading.