If Beale Street Could TalkWe are in Harlem, the black soul of New York City, in the era of Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. The narrator of James Baldwin's novel is Tish, nineteen, and pregnant. Her lover, Fonny, father of her child, is in jail accused of rape. Flashbacks from their love affair are woven into the compelling struggle of two families to win justice for Fonny. To this love story, If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin brings a spare and impassioned intensity,