The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Quick Synopsis: Read Just Mercy first. It’s the story of attorney Bryan Stevenson who attends Harvard Law School and spends a summer interning in Georgia with the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee. Here, Stevenson’s is sent in to give a death row inmate one message “You will not be killed in the next year.” And from there, the book plunges into the judicial system, death row, confinement, bomb threats, conspiratorial prosecutions, unequal and incompetent defenses, and wrongful convictions. It’s true stories of actual people who are longing for a voice and fairness. Once you finish that, you’ll want to read The Sun Does Shine. By Anthony Ray Hinton, this book tells his story as a man who although wrongfully convicted, works to make the most out of his time on death row. He starts a book club, helps a white supremacist find mercy and love, talks about visits with his mama, listens as his friends die in a room just down the hall, waits for his own death, tries to make peace with the guards, and lets us read letters between him and his attorney, Bryan Stevenson. He talks about growing weary, finding hope, and then finally, finding freedom.
Why I like Them: I read Just Mercy in one day sitting on the shores of Edisto Beach. I was riveted, and the world of unjust justice suddenly came to life in my mind. I grasped why the system feels rigged, and I realized why people were so angry and hurt by inequalities in our courts. I read right through the lunch I had packed, and when I finished, I was crying. I got home and actually looked into the Innocence Project and Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative to see how I could help. I then read John Grisham’s Innocent Man and educated myself about the tragic consequences of an unchecked judicial system. If I were on death row, I’d be furious. I’d feel hopeless, lost, and voiceless. I told one of my former teachers my feelings, and she said “Go read The Sun Does Shine.” The Sun Does Shine gave me hope not just for people on death row, but for humanity. The grace, peace, and mercy that Anthony Ray Hinton shows and encourages us to find is enormous. He moves ahead with his life after being sentenced. He finds a way to connect with his fellow inmates, and while there are moments of pain and hurt, he still continues to make positive, productive choices each and every day he’s behind bars. For the life of me, I still don’t know how he did it. I’m not sure I could have.
Why You Might Like Them: Let’s say you aren’t a “social justice” kind of person—you just want a good story. Well, these books have it. Let’s say you want to learn more about the society you find yourself in and why people of all races feel slighted by the judicial system, these books have it. Let’s say you just want to read good stories with good endings that make you feel better about our world even though there are still those nagging disappointing aspects, these books have that. In addition to just having true, complex stories that captivate you, they are conversational reads. You won’t get bogged down in verbose, complicated language. The people the books chronicle force you to listen to their story, and you will find yourself rooting for them and clinging to all the good in life that you can possibly find.
