Born in the agrarian ghetto of Dickenson the southern outskirts of Los Angelesthe narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: Id die in the same bedroom Id grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling thatve been there since the 68 quake. Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is told that his fathers work will lead to a memoir that will solve their financial woes. But when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. All thats left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral.

Fueled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the towns most famous residentthe last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkinshe initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in front of the Supreme Court.

Winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction.