X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz

X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz

Co-written by Malcolm X's daughter, this riveting and revealing novel follows the formative years of the man whose words and actions shook the world.

I am Malcolm.
I am my father's son. But to be my father's son means that they will always come for me.
They will always come for me, and I will always succumb.

Malcolm Little's parents have always told him that he can achieve anything, but from what he can tell, that's nothing but a pack of lies?after all, his father's been murdered, his mother's been taken away, and his dreams of becoming a lawyer have gotten him laughed out of school. There's no point in trying, he figures, and lured by the nightlife of Boston and New York, he escapes into a world of fancy suits, jazz, girls, and reefer.

But Malcolm's efforts to leave the past behind lead him into increasingly dangerous territory when what starts as some small-time hustling quickly spins out of control. Deep down, he knows that the freedom he's found is only an illusion?and that he can't run forever.

X follows Malcolm from his childhood to his imprisonment for theft at age twenty, when he found the faith that would lead him to forge a new path and command a voice that still resonates today.

KEKLA MAGOON is the award-winning author of the Robyn Hoodlum series and other young adult novels, including the Coretta Scott King Honor Book How It Went Down and the NAACP Image Award-nominated The Rock and the River. She also coauthored X: A Novel (with Ilyasah Shabazz), which garnered an NAACP Image Award and a Coretta Scott King Honor and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Kekla Magoon visits schools and libraries across the country and teaches writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts. www.keklamagoon.com@KeklaMagoon