'The Street'' was an astonishing success particularly because Petry was an African American woman, and her career flourished after the book became popular. But her determination and self-confidence are battered at every turn by the predators of the street and the racism and sexism of the times.

A literary, page-flipping thriller with sharp and eloquent writing, 'The Street' is the story of Lutie Johnson, a single mother in the 1940s who moves from Connecticut to Harlem, determined to find a place for herself and her son in the American Dream. That would be Ann Petry, the one-time Old Saybrook resident who also briefly lived in Lyme, and whose 1946 novel 'The Street' became the first novel written by an African American woman to sell over a million copies. Proportionately, we can't complain much in terms of how many successful authors have lived in or hailed from these parts.īut it's possible that one of our most accomplished writers - one who shattered stereotypes and barriers - has with time slipped under the radar. But in her struggle to earn money and raise her son amid the violence, poverty and racial dissonance of her surroundings, Lutie is soon trapped: she is a woman alone, 'too good-looking to be decent', with predators at every turn.Groundbreaking 1946 novel by Old Saybrook's Ann Petry back in new edition Having left her unreliable husband, Lutie believes that with hard work and resolve, she can begin again she has faith in the American dream. In a crumbling tenement in Harlem, Lutie Johnson is determined to build a new life for herself and her eight-year-old boy, Bub - a life that she can be proud of. insightful, prescient and unputdownable' TAYARI JONES 'My favorite type of novel, literary with an astonishing plot. Her work endures not merely because of the strength of its message but its artistry' NEW YORK TIMES 'Ann Petry's first novel, The Street, was a literary event in 1946, praised and translated around the world - the first book by a black woman to sell more than a million copies.

'This is a wonderful novel - the prose is clear, the plot is page-turning, the characters are utterly believable' CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE With a new introduction by TAYARI JONES, author of An American Marriage

Ann petry's 1946 novel the street