Isaacs Song, Daniel Black
Isaacs Song, Daniel Black
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Isaac's Song
A Novel

Author: Daniel Black

Narrator: JD Jackson

Unabridged: 8 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/14/2025


Synopsis

*From the Viral Clark Atlanta University Commencement Speaker*
*From the Georgia Author of the Year Award Winner*

The beloved author of Don’t Cry for Me and Perfect Peace returns with a poignant, emotionally exuberant novel about a young queer Black man finding his voice in 1980s Chicago—a novel of family, forgiveness and perseverance, for fans of The Great Believers and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Isaac is at a crossroads in his young life. Growing up in Missouri, the son of a caustic, hard-driving father, he was conditioned to suppress his artistic pursuits and physical desires, notions that didn’t align with a traditional view of masculinity. But now, in late ’80s Chicago, Isaac has finally carved out a life of his own. He is sensitive and tenderhearted and has built up the courage to seek out a community. Yet just as he begins to embrace who he is, two social catalysts—the AIDS crisis and Rodney King’s attack—collectively extinguish his hard-earned joy.

At a therapist’s encouragement, Isaac begins to write down his story. In the process, he taps into a creative energy that will send him on a journey back to his family, his ancestral home in Arkansas and the inherited trauma of the nation’s dark past. But a surprise discovery will either unlock the truths he’s seeking or threaten to derail the life he’s fought so hard to claim.

Poignant, sweeping and luminously told, Isaac's Song is a return to the beloved characters of Don’t Cry for Me and a high-water mark in the career of an award-winning author.

About Daniel Black

Daniel Black is an author and professor of African American studies at Clark Atlanta University. His books include The Coming, Perfect Peace and They Tell Me of a Home. He is the winner of the Distinguished Writer Award from the Middle-Atlantic Writer's Association and has been nominated for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, the Ernest J. Gaines Award,and the Georgia Author of the Year Award. He was raised in Blackwell, Arkansas, and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kezia on March 20, 2025

A devastatingly heartbreaking book with the most beautifully complex characters. 🙌🏾 I don’t even have the words to fully express how deeply immersed I was in Isaac’s story. My heart ached so many times, knowing that this is the real-life experience of so many queer Black individuals growing up in the......more

Goodreads review by Marieke on January 02, 2025

Actual rating 4.5 stars. I want Isaac’s therapist! I highlighted so many of her observations! Isaac’s Song is a beautifully written story, that almost reads like a biography. The first pages took my breath away. The story starts when Isaac’s father dies and Isaac cries to his surprise. Weeks later, h......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on April 16, 2025

As usual, Daniel Black's book is deeply moving and inspiring. It's sad, poignant, informative, and healing. I wonder if he knows how to write any other way. There's very little action in the book. It's mostly a conversation Isaac has with himself. He is writing in a journal as an act of homework from......more

Goodreads review by Louise on December 29, 2024

Isaac’s Song reads like a memoir, but is fiction. We follow along as a gay Black man delves into his youth at the prompting of his therapist, not long after his semi-estranged father has died. Along the way, he confronts his identity and his fraught relationship with his father. Isaac’s therapist has......more

Goodreads review by Camryn on March 06, 2025

masterful. "Part of me wished we could’ve gotten Isaac’s perspective when he finds and reads the letter, but even without that, the novel feels seamless and complete. But, Dr. Black, if you want to give us an epilogue from Isaac’s POV, I would definitely appreciate it." – Me, February 2022. Enter Isaa......more