In nine linked stories set in the decades after the Civil War, Charles W. Chesnutt explores the hidden tensions and deep yearnings of a world divided by race—and by the lighter and darker shades of Blackness itself. A proud Ohio socialite must choose between his refined future and the faithful wife from his enslaved past. A white sheriff faces a terrible choice when the man accused of murder is his own son. A slave feigns devotion to his master while secretly masterminding an escape to freedom. With warmth, irony, and unblinking honesty, these tales reveal the courage, compromise, and complexity of lives lived on the color line. This modern retelling preserves Chesnutt’s original plots and dialogue while rendering his prose into vivid, present-day English—making a classic feel fresh and immediate. Part of Timeless Classics.