54 Miles

A Novel

By: Leonard Pitts Jr.

Narrated by: Leonard Pitts Jr.

Young Adam, who has been raised in Harlem by his white father, George, and Black mother, Thelma, goes back to his parents' home state of Alabama to participate in the voting rights campaign, only to be brutalized in the Bloody Sunday melee. He is still recovering from this when he is struck a heavy emotional blow, learning for the first time—and in the cruelest way imaginable—of a family secret that sends him spiraling and plunging further into danger. To save him, and any hope for their relationship, Thelma is drawn back, for the first time in twenty years, to the South she both hates and fears, and to a reckoning that may result in an incalculable loss.

Meanwhile, Thelma's brother Luther is also spiraling, but in a different way. Forty-two years after his parents were lynched before his eyes, and twenty years after the man who led the lynch mob walked out of court a free man, Luther has just made a shocking discovery. He's found the murderer, Floyd Bitters, helpless and enfeebled in a rest home—unable to move or even to speak. The old man is literally at Luther's mercy. And Luther, who has never overcome this trauma that defined his life, is suddenly forced to relive it all again as he grapples with the awful question of what justice now demands.

©2024 Leonard Pitts, Jr. (P)2024 Tantor Media

Unforgettable story…

Listened to this extraordinary story, 54 Miles, written and read by author Leonard Pitts, Jr. This novel is a standalone sequel to his novel The Last Thing You Surrender. This book takes you forward 20-years into 1965 Alabama with the march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge as part of the historical backstory.

I’m not sure how he does it, but author Pitts allows us, not only to step into the lives, but to feel the character’s burdens, fears and pain. We meet Thelma, her brother Luther, her son Adam, and her husband George. Lots of family dynamics of a mixed race couple during a time when that was still illegal in the South.

One can’t help but have their heart touched and emotion ignited throughout this story. As I listened to 54 Miles many threads between both novels made me think I had seen the “movie.” There is no movie! Pitts characters and scenes are so vibrant you feel you are there. Strongly recommend to those interested in southern Alabama history during the 60s, Martin Luther King, the Selma Bloody Sunday, or any part of history leading up to the march over the bridge. A great family story with all the good and the tough. Pitts knows how to keep truth inside his fiction. His characters are believable because they are not perfect. I loved this novel. 5 stars easy.

This Wrecked Me!

I have to give Pitts a break for now! He is too good and the feeling too great. I held my breath the entire book. I was a silent onlooker and I mourned, rejoiced, exhaled out of relief with every scene I was present for. The Last Thing You Surrender and it's sequel 54 Miles is some of the best writing I've experienced.