A searing chronicle of the life of a young ex-convict and heroin addict in 1960s Harlem, an unsparing portrait of a man who couldn’t free himself from the horrors of addiction.Blueschild Baby takes place during the summer of 1967–the summer of race riots all across the nation; the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury; the summer of Marines dying near Con Thien, across the world in Vietnam–but the novel illuminates the contours of a more private hell: the angry desperation of a heroin addict who returns to his home in Harlem after being in prison.First published in 1970, this frankly autobiographical novel was a revelation, a stunning depiction of a marginal figure, marked literally and figuratively by his drug addiction and navigating a predatory underground of junkies and hustlers–and named George Cain, like his author.Now with a new introduction by acclaimed writer Leslie Jamison, this is an unvarnished conjuring of the tyranny of dependence: its desperation, its degradation, its rage and rebellion; the fragile, unsettled, occasional shards of hope it permits; the strange joys of being alive and young and lost and hooked and full of feverish determination anyway.
I have a question about the book:
'Blueschild Baby - Cain, George'.
Fill in the form below.
We will respond as fast as possible.
We value your privacy
We use cookies to measure traffic, improve Boekstra and let Google tailor ads to your interests. You can keep using the site either way — even if you decline. More info
