The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row

By Lara Love Hardin and Anthony Ray Hinton

Book Overview

Winner of the 2019 Christopher Award

Oprah's Book Club Summer 2018 Selection

The Instant New York Times Bestseller

A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit.

"An amazing and heartwarming story, it restores our faith in the inherent goodness of humanity."
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.

But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence--full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon--transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty-four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.

With a foreword by Stevenson, The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times. Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton's memoir tells his dramatic thirty-year journey and shows how you can take away a man's freedom, but you can't take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250124719
• ISBN13: 9781250124715
• Release Date: March 2018
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Astounding book.

I was so moved by this book. This black man was unjustly found guilty of murder in Alabama in 1986 because he was black and poor. He lived on death row for 30 years before he was proven innocent. He forgave the legal staff that put him in this position. He used his imagination and humor to help him endure his 30 year tenure waiting to be executed while trying to find someone to help him convince the justice system of the injustice he was served. His love for his mother and his best friend and their undiminished faith in Mr Hinton being proven innocent helped sustain him. He had been taught by his mother to not hate and he learned just how true that hatred was an emotion taught. You are not born knowing to hate someone. We must stop teaching our children to hate. We must!! I was moved to tears several times reading the pages of his book but make no mistake, this is a great book.

I found a Winner!!!

It was so refreshing to read something of substance. This novel is so sad at times and uplifting. After you read Mr. Hinton daunting story, you can appreciate the simple things in life that we all just take for granted. This was truly one brave man who had to find a way to cope through the many years that he spent on death row. I found joy in reading about how he had to find a way to live on death row because he refused to give up. It was sad to hear about the horrible jail conditions that these prisons had to deal with on a daily basis. Being in jail is not a great experience but to be labeled and charged to live and survive on death row had to be the hardest. He writes about the condition in jail and how different inmates are treated from other inmates. I just cannot imagine how you can deal with residing in a cell where you can experience someone being put to death, the smells, terror and mistreatment of how you must look the other way to try to remain stable during these turbulent times?. Mr. Hinton saving grace was his love of God, his best friend Lester and his mom and of course Bryan Stevenson. While this story has elements of the movie, "Just Mercy", it was much more difficult and degrading and residing in another level. I wish they would make this into a good movie. I would love to meet this man and just listen to how he continues to live and try to forgive and forget and make a better life for himself. In the end, we must all come to grips with being thankful for what you got and how blessed you are to live a slice of humanity. I praise the work of the Equal Justice Initiative and Bryan Steveson and the work that they have done and continue to do. I issue a challenge for all of us to try to help those who are less fortunate. I contribute to their campaign and always try to keep ahead of their challenging work. God Bless you all!!!!!

Everyone should read!

I didn’t know things were THAT bad when it came to freeing an innocent man, and I feel responsible for never knowing. This book was incredible, and I want to buy a copy for everyone I know. I’ve already told my book club about it, and it might be a book that gets added to our future reads.