The Street

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR TAYARI JONES

"How can a novel’s social criticism be so unflinching and clear, yet its plot moves like a house on fire? I am tempted to describe Petry as a magician for the many ways that The Street amazes, but this description cheapens her talent… Petry is a gifted artist." — Tayari Jones, from the Introduction

The Street follows the spirited Lutie Johnson, a newly single mother whose efforts to claim a share of the American Dream for herself and her young son meet frustration at every turn in 1940s Harlem. Opening a fresh perspective on the realities and challenges of black, female, working-class life, this classic American novel became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than a million copies.

“A major literary invention . . . A truly great book.” —The Los Angeles Times   “Overflows with the classic pity and terror of good imaginative writing.”   —The New York Times   “A powerful, uncompromising work of social criticism. To this day, few works of fiction have so clearly illuminated the devastating impact of racial injustice.”  —Coretta Scott King   “A classic of American realism . . . The Street rushes toward its fatalistic climax like a train toward a washed-out bridge.” —Newsday