Witness: Stories

"Jamel Brinkley made a splash in the literary world with his debut short story collection, A Lucky Man. His follow-up collection, set in a changing New York City, contains 10 stories about people who choose to speak on behalf of others – or fail to do so. Brinkley tackles several themes in the book, including community, responsibility and grief, and he does so beautifully, with assured prose and artful dialogue that rings true, sometimes painfully so. This is a brilliant collection that offers hope, but not at the expense of realism."