Percival Everett Reads from His Booker-Shortlisted Novel, The Trees

This month on the Service95 Book Club podcast, Dua is joined by acclaimed American author Percival Everett to discuss his genre-defying, fiercely satirical novel The Trees – selected as Dua’s Monthly Read for September. A Booker Prize finalist, the book investigates the legacy of racial violence in America through a story that is as chilling as it is darkly comic.

 

In a Service95 exclusive, Percival reads from the novel’s searing Chapter 64 – a passage that echoes with names of those brutally murdered by lynch mobs. Some are remembered. Some are listed only as “unknown male” or “unknown female”. One by one, line by line, Everett delivers a roll call of history’s brutality – transforming a single character’s obsession into a profound act of remembrance.

 

His reading underscores the novel’s emotional and political power, revealing how The Trees blends mystery, satire, and mourning into a story that cannot be ignored.

Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble 

 

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