Go Tell it on the Mountain (Penguin Modern Classics)

"I had to deal with what hurt me most. I had to deal with my father."

Drawing on James Baldwin's own boyhood in a religious community in 1930s Harlem, his first novel tells the story of young Johnny Grimes. Johnny is destined to become a preacher like his father, Gabriel, at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, where the church swells with song and it is as if "the Holy Ghost were riding on the air."

However, Johnny feels only scalding hatred for Gabriel, whose fear and fanaticism lead him to abuse his family. Determined to break the cycle, Johnny vows that, for him, things will be different. This blazing tale is full of passion and guilt, of secret sinners and prayers singing on the wind.

Praise for the Novel:

• "A beautiful, enduring, spiritual song of a novel" – Andrew O'Hagan
• "With vivid imagery, with lavish attention to details, Mr. Baldwin has told his feverish story" – The New York Times