Five Smooth Stones

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Five Smooth Stones is a 1966 novel by Ann Fairbairn set in New Orleans during the Civil Rights era. It follows David Champlain, an African-American man who rises from poverty after his father is lynched and is raised by his grandparents. He excels academically, attending a Midwestern college, Harvard Law School, and Oxford. He falls in love with Sara Kent, a white woman, and worries about the future of a mixed-race couple in America. He pursues international law and works abroad as a diplomat. The death of his grandfather brings him back to New Orleans, where he becomes a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, leading to tragedy. Fairbairn drew on her experience managing jazz tours for clarinetist George Lewis to write this, her first novel. The title comes from the biblical story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40), where David selects five smooth stones. The book is epic in length, more than 900 pages, and was a Literary Guild selection in 1967. Critics were mixed: Kirkus called it readable but predictable with unmemorable characters, though it dramatizes minority experiences for a broad audience; Wilma Dykeman in The New York Times Book Review praised it as richly realized and refreshing. It was published in the United States by Crown, Bantam, and Chicago Review Press, in English.ISBN 9780517506875.