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Hello and welcome to The Spectator's Book Club podcast.

I'm Sam Leith, the literary editor to the Spectator.

This week I'm very pleased to be joined by the novelist Percival Everett.

He's a Pulitzer.

He was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel The Trees And his new book is James

Which is a retelling of the adventures of Huckabry Finn

From the point of view of the enslaved Jim

With whom Huck is on the run

First of all, welcome

Can't stop asking you, when was it that you thought

You know, there was something to be done about

Huckabree Finn? There was an opening there for your own work. Well, I have to say, I did not have

a long burning desire to do this. I didn't think of it until three or so years ago. I just, I asked

myself the question, had this been done, had anyone told the story from Jim's point of view?

And I didn't know, so I went and I started searching and turned out as far as I could see, no one had.

And I wondered why.

And then I realized that at my advanced age, I hadn't thought of it either.

And so I decided to do it.

...