Paperback – 272 pages

A historic presidential campaign changes the trajectory of a young Black mans life in this coming-of-age story that captures the soul of America (The Washington Post), the debut novel fromThe New Yorkerwriter and Pulitzer Prize finalist Vinson Cunningham.

One of the smartest and most involving political novels Ive read in ages.The Wall Street Journal

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD/JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK

Id seen the Senator speak a few times before my life got caught up, however distantly, with his, but the first time I can remember paying real attention was when he delivered the speech announcing his run for the Presidency.

When David first hears the Senator from Illinois speak, he feels deep ambivalence. Intrigued by the Senator’s idealistic rhetoric, David also wonders how he’ll balance the fervent hopes and inevitable compromises it will take to become the United States’s first Black president.

Great Expectationsis about David’s eighteen months working for the Senator’s presidential campaign. Along the way David meets a myriad of people who raise a set of questionsquestions of history, art, race, religion, and fatherhood that force David to look at his own life anew and come to terms with his identity as a young Black man and father in America.

Meditating on politics and politicians, religion and preachers, fathers and family,Great Expectationsis both an emotionally resonant coming-of-age storyand a rich novel of ideas, marking the arrival of a major new writer.