The Sun Does Shine

By: Anthony Ray Hinton, Lara Love Hardin, Bryan Stevenson - foreword

Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson - foreword, Kevin R. Free

Oprah's Book Club Summer 2018 Selection

A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent 30 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 29 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 27 years he was a beacon - transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, 54 of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and best-selling 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 30-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

This program includes a foreword written and read by Bryan Stevenson.

Praise for The Sun Does Shine audiobook:

"The incredible details of Hinton's trial and eventual release are narrated in an honest, easy style by Kevin R. Free...He captures the Southern rhythms of Hinton's speech with a natural cadence that brings us closer to his pain." (AudioFile magazine)

"Kevin R. Free performs this work with flashes of anger cast over a deep humility, and captures the sense of humor that Hinton was, incredibly, able to hold on to during his long years in solitary confinement...This is a story that enrages and inspires." (New York Times)

©2018 Anthony Ray Hinton, foreword copyright 2018 by Bryan Stevenson (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year, Long-listed

"The actor Kevin R. Free performs this work with flashes of anger cast over a deep humility, and captures the sense of humor that Hinton was, incredibly, able to hold on to during his long years in solitary confinement—his affability could get even prison guards to smile. This is a story that enrages and inspires." -New York Times

"Highly recommended, especially for personal and public library audiobook collections.\" -Midwest Book Review

"In this intense memoir, Hinton recounts his three-decade nightmare: awaiting execution for crimes he didn't commit...Hinton's life is one of inspiration, which he wonderfully relays here in bitingly honest prose." (Publishers Weekly)

There is always hope

This book teaches you that you never give up hope . Enjoyed listening to it very much

Life changing.

I want to listen to this book over and over again.
Excellent!!! A must read.

Amazing !!!

It’s difficult to find words to express the emotions that this real life story invoked. What kind of systemic hate do you have to within, to knowingly take part in a conspiracy of this magnitude. I wish I could feel this was one isolated incident, but I know all to well it’s not.
Anthony Ray Hinton!!! What an amazing man of faith!

A must read of our generation.

Anthony Ray Hinton is a fighter. His passion for justice is breath taking. So inspired and thankful for his story.

Excellent

I laughed,got mad, cried, smiled, laughed again, got really pissed off, cried some more and smiled from ear to ear. What a book!❤️❤️❤️