Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I got the email promoting this book, I was blown away by the premise. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton, a black man living in Alabama, was convicted of two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and armed robbery and sentenced to death by electrocution. The catch? He was totally innocent of the crimes they accused him of committing; the only evidence the prosecutors offered during the trial was his mother’s gun as the murder weapon, which hadn’t been fired once in over 25 years. This so-called “evidence” along with bogus ballistics reports and racism from an all-white jury, judge, and prosecution ensured that Ray would spend almost 30 years on death row before he was ruled innocent in 2015.

Ray’s innocence, however, doesn’t happen magically, if the time it took is any indication. What follows in The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row is a long, uphill struggle for the truth to become known and justice to be served. Ray’s story is one of finding hope in hopelessness, love instead of hatred, and light instead of darkness–and he struggles at first. For three years, Ray doesn’t speak to anyone on death row, letting hate and rage fester inside of him as he loses faith in almost everything he’s ever believed in.

Until one day, the inmate in the cell next to him starts crying–a common occurrence on death row–but he sounds so anguished, so hopeless that Ray realizes something crucial about us humans. Hatred is a choice but so, too, is compassion.

Thus, Ray starts to show compassion along with his natural humor and positive outlook to his fellow inmates, some of them the worst of the worst–murderers, sadists, and rapists–and some innocent like him. What I love about Ray’s memoir is that he so thoroughly understands how complicated life is and how complicated people are, even the ones on death row. He makes a family out of these men, starts to give them something to hope for, and, in some cases, changes their lives.

Ray’s humor and honesty keeps the book refreshing even as it moves into darker and more serious topics. Readers are lucky because Ray himself is lucky. He has a mother who loves him unconditionally and believes in him without a doubt, and who raised him to be an amazing person. He has a best friend named Lester who never once in 30 years fails to come see him during visiting days at the prison. He has a faith in God that is tested, nearly abandoned, and then found again, a faith that is so totally genuine and loving of others that you can’t help but gravitate toward it. And, eventually, he finds a legal champion and a steadfast friend in Bryan Stevenson, a fellow African American man who works tirelessly to get Ray off death row and free from prison.

There’s a lot in this book to take in, and I won’t lie: I cried many times throughout, and I’m not the crying sort. So much of it, though, was moving, and if it wasn’t moving, it was heartbreaking, particularly with how long the legal process to prove his innocence actually took because the State of Alabama didn’t care or want to hear it.

However, at its core, The Sun Does Shine is about forgiveness. It takes a lot of strength for a person to forgive someone. It takes unimaginable strength to forgive an entire system and a whole host of people for taking 30 years of your life due to racism, forcing you to live in hell on earth, and making you witness execution after execution while they actively deny your legal cases for innocence. Somehow, Ray manages to find it within himself to do so, even after he struggles to adjust to an un-regimented life outside of prison and three decades of technological advancement he wasn’t even aware of. Somehow, he realizes that this terrible thing happened to him so he could pursue his higher purpose: ending the death penalty forever.

I don’t know where you stand on the death penalty, lethal injection or otherwise. I don’t know if you’re staunchly for it, against it, or on the fence about it. Maybe you’ve never given much thought to it at all. In any case, I encourage you to read this memoir because it brings this vague yet decisive punishment that most of us will never face or witness with our own eyes to the forefront. It makes us confront the fact that incredibly fallible and oftentimes biased people administer this punishment to the point where one out of ten people are sent to death row yet are innocent of their accused crimes.

In addition to the flaws of the death penalty, The Sun Does Shine also raises questions about America’s prisons, racial biases, and deficient legal systems, about how the rich and guilty are treated better than the poor and innocent. Ray’s memoir will stir much debate and discussion should you pick this book up for your next book club (encouraged) or assign it to your classroom (doubly encouraged).

Plus, there’s much here in the way of empathy and calls to action, and that’s something that’s sorely needed in the world right now.

The Sun Does Shine, a book about hope, redemption, faith, and the ability to believe was a book that exceeded any expectation I may have had. It told the story of a racial injustice, incarceration, and the ability of one man who kept his hope and faith alive while living on Alabama's Death Row for a crime he could not have committed. Knowing that the evidence proved beyond any doubt that he was innocent, and being convicted anyway should have been enough to break any man. Having the ability to survive that, along with years on Death Row, and denial after denial of his requests for a new trial is beyond comprehension. If you've given up on hope, lost your faith, or simply want to read about a remarkable man, The Sun Does Shine is the book for you.

Usually I do not read memoirs and especially I do not read them if I don't know for whom is about, but The Sun Does Shine is a book that I liked very very much. Before reading this book I had no idea who Anthony Ray Hinton was or his story.
In this book he describes his story and the struggles that he went through in a way that made my cry. His words were so honest and powerful. I liked that despite his own fate, he continued to encourage his fellow inmates until the last moments. His friendship with Lester is incredible.
This book left me with hope and many emotions.
It is a very powerful and inspirational book.

#TheSunDoesShine #NetGalley

Wow, I will not do this book justice! This is about the most powerful book I have read. What this man went through is a travesty, not just in legality, but in humanity. For him to keep his respect of others and his dignity through this was unbelievable. That this type of thing can happen anywhere, much less the USA is unbelievable.

To have a friend such as Lester is a wonderful thing and we would all be lucky to have someone like him in our lives. Fortunately Bryan Stevenson came into Mr. Hinton's life eventually. These two men are just the best!

Mr. Hinton you are a "MAN". Your Momma is in heaven smiling, and she is proud of you.

Hopefully many people read this book and are moved, as I was.

Excellent writing and story telling. I felt like I was right next to Ray as he is describing the various experiences he went through over the years. It is shocking that such injustices were occurring in the 1980s and could be still happening today. A must read.

"The Sun Does Shine" is both a sad tale of unjust behavior and a happy story of Ray Hinton living an exemplary life despite his time on death row. Hinton fought an unjust system that cared little for him as a black man in the southern United States. He was rebuffed at every turn but continued to fight for his innocence. Similarly, Bryan Stevenson is to be lauded for sticking with his pro bono client to the heart warming end. A good story, nicely told.

I received this book "The Sun Does Shine" from Netgalley for my honest review.
This was an amazing read. Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with a crime he did not commit. He was at work where there was a guard and you had to sign in and out. There were other employees who should have been able to tell the police that he was at work. But he was arrested because he was a poor black man. The police did not care about him they only cared that they were going to close the case. The state of Alabama didn't care either. When trying to appeal, the state of Alabama didn't care about his rights or the fact that he had proof that he was innocent. He could have been put to death. He was on death row watching as the state put inmates to death. The state of Alabama took 30 years of his life! I was interested in how his life was going throughout the book. You need to have hope and faith and good people trying to help you. This book was well written and although it does have a lot of legal jargon it was interesting and not at all boring.

What a read! The Sun Does Shine is a book that everyone should read. It will fill you with anger, sadness, hope, and gratitude. Telling the story of Anthony Ray Hinton, who was wrongly imprisoned on Death Row for thirty years (!!!), The Sun Does Shine does not shy away from making you think about prison reform and the death penalty. I got interested in reading books like this after I read Just Mercy last year, and when I saw a NetGalley email that this book was available to read, I jumped at the chance to read Hinton’s story. And what a tale it is! I knew from the synopsis that he was eventually released, but my word, I was filled with sadness and despair for Hinton (and his friends and family), and was on the edge of my seat the entire read. Once I started this, I could not put it down, and Hinton does an excellent job of telling his story and making you feel not only his pain, but also his hopefulness.
The inadequacy of the legal system will shock and anger you. No, not just anger you, but outrage you. And it should! Hinton strives and succeeds here in bringing forth the humanity of the inmates, and even though many of them here are guilty of their terrible crimes, Hinton really makes the reader think about a lot of issues.
I loved the scenes between Hinton and his mother, and also Hinton and his best friend Lester. I enjoyed the scenes where Hinton decides to create a book club for a few inmates on Death Row, and hearing them all discuss various reads was enlightening. There are also a lot of very intense and emotional scenes, as many are executed throughout the years.
When I read, I write notes on my phone, and when I started this book my phone typed out The Sun DOES Shine as the title, and I think that is such a fitting statement here. This book will break your heart, heal it again, and make you think. It’s a must read, and so far it’s my favorite read of the year.

Bottom Line: Stunning. Such a powerful read! A must read for everyone!

The Sun Does Shine: How I found life and freedom on death row

From the publishers:
In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.

But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence—full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon—transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty-four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.

With a foreword by Stevenson, The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times. Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic thirty-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.



My thoughts:

In education, we call things like grit, values, persistence, work ethic, faith, and collaboration as "soft" skills. They are off content skills that are not graded or tested, but students who have these soft skills seem better equipped not just for school but for life.

The wrenching memoir of a man who spent 30 years on death row in Alabama not for any crimes he committed but for being poor, black and convenient is really a model of how these soft skills helped Mr. Hinton to survive on death row. He not only survived, but he helped others, even if it was just to help others to escape their minds for a little while.

This is a story of compassion and unconditional love. In this world of #blacklivesmatter, this is a story of hope, faith and love.

Published March 27, 2018

A great story about a hard time in our past; but it is in the past. I just hope this is never allowed again in another State for another set of rules or reasons set up by the elected insanity. Tough story

This book is an amazing story of how a man who was wrongly convicted didn't allow the system to keep him down. He chose to live life on Death Row as an example to others and gave hope and joy to others. This is a great book of hope and faith.

Reading about thirty years on death row through the eyes of an innocent man is gut-wrenchingly hard. Hinton's story flashes back and forth in time from the early days after his arrest when he felt convinced that it would all be straightened out to his Mother dying while he was trapped on Death Row and finally to his release after a Supreme Court Ruling in his favor. It is both hard and easy to believe that there could be such a terrible miscarriage of justice in what seems like an easily provable case of mistaken identity. In any case, Ray makes the best of a lousy situation and I was not at all surprised to see that he now speaks to groups about forgiveness.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair/honest review.

This book was heart breaking and uplifting and eye opening all at once. It is the true story of Anthony Ray Hinton who spent 30 years on death row for crimes he didn't commit. Hinton shares his story so openly and honestly. It's hard to imagine how he remained so positive when the deck was stacked against him and he was surrounded (literally) by hate and death. A truly amazing story of faith - in others, in God - and survival.

This story is a perfect example of why we should abolish the death penalty? How many wrongfully convicted people have been innocently killed? Anthony Ray Hinton's story is captivating and one everyone should read. His strength, courage and forgiveness towards the system is inspiring. I recommend it!

The Sun Does Shine tragically illustrates that innocent until proven guilty is not a guarantee in our criminal justice system. Anthony Ray Hinton's story should be read in high school classes across the nation.

What would you do if you were convicted of a crime that you did not commit and had to spend over a decade behind bars because the color of your skin meant that you were guilty?
Reading this book broke my heart, not because of what Anthony went through, but because of his courage to see the positive side of what he was going through and his speech at the stand forgiving the judicial system for accusing him wrongfully. I know not of the judicial system in America, but we have also had many cases of the judicial system failing Kenyans in terms of delivering justice, and this book made me both angry, confused, bitter, calm and hopeful as I read of the struggles he faced. I had to set it aside whenever I read about his mom because it was too much for me to bear. It's a book worth reading especially given the numerous accounts of white privilege and the social structure of America.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow! This is a must-read memoir. Somewhere in the middle of Ray's story about his 30 years on Alabama's death row, I realized he'd been wrongfully convicted while I was still in nursing school (1985). While he survived and watched 54 prisoners walk past his cell to be electrocuted, I graduated with a BS, worked a 20-year career, raised my kids, married again, built a house, and traveled. Ray stayed in his 5 x 8-foot cell 23 hours a day and fought for the truth.

The enormity of the injustice is staggering. Convicted of two murders on false testimony, trumped-up ballistics reports, and underrepresented by a court-appointed lawyer, 29-year-old Ray was sentenced to death. It is only because of who he is as a person and an incredible lawyer who believed in him, that the prosecution eventually dropped the charges. But it took the Supreme Court of the United States to make them do it. They have yet to apologize or compensate him for the lost years.

While incarcerated Ray, at first filled with hate for everyone involved, learned to forgive. He became a model for others, formed a book club, and practiced compassion for others. The way he survived those endless days and nights is a most extraordinary tale.

At the end of the book, there is a list of men sitting on death row in the United States as of March 2017. As Ray points out, statistics show that one out of every ten of them is innocent. The list is long. Too long. Read them all, he says, and pause at every tenth name and say…"innocent."

I'd also like to give a shout out to Lara Love Hardin who helped Ray tell his story. Her words moved me deeply and made this book a more than compelling read.

This is an excellent book. too often stories about unjust convictions are more fairy tales than anything else. This one is not. This book is about a man who was railroaded by the system for more than 30 years.

What a touching story. A great job telling the story through Roy's eyes. Brings tears to you eyes to journey through the ignorant court system Roy had to endure. But he never gave up and an angle saved the day in Bryan Stevenson. The loyal friendship of Lester, another angle, who made the journey for 30 years is remarkable. Hopefully this book will help changed such a corrupt system. God Bless you Roy.

10 STARS......

This is an incredible journey Ray Hinton takes us on; I laughed, cried and was very angry from page to page. Such a profound human being. How does one stay positive when 30 years of precious life has been stolen from them? He speaks of his loving God often in the book, impressively his beliefs remain strong during the most difficult times in his life.

Before we get to death row and sadly for much of the book, we get a close up and personal tour of a very broken and corrupt justice systems. How could so many individuals paid and trusted by our government to protect "the people", turn their heads at so much obvious injustice? His initial attorney (Perhacs) turned my stomach. On several occasions I had tears streaming down my cheeks in either frustration or sadness, I don't think I have ever read another book that stirred so much emotion in me.

Ray takes us on a journey into death row; we meet and get to like his cell mates who many undoubtedly have committed heinous crimes, but as he points out, "people are more than just the worst thing they have ever done". He is able to keep his humor and travel outside his mind while 50 plus cell mates (they become family) are marched by his cell to the electric chair.

Ray has a unique mind that has the ability to travel outside of the prison walls and create a full life for himself. Traveling the world he created experiences for himself that kept his sanity, ie marrying Halle Berry, visiting Queen Elizabeth, playing pro ball, etc. It's truly amazing. What brought all this full circle for me was after his release he states "I realize it was easier for my mind to leave the row when I was inside than it is now that I'm free". Wow....

We get the pleasure of meeting Lester, Ray's life long best friend and hero who never falters in his love for his friend or misses a visit in 30 years. We also meet Bryan Stevenson who tirelessly fought for 15 years to prove Ray's innocence. Bryan is an angel sent personally by God (who else could make this happen after 30 years) to save this man.

In closing, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that prior to reading Ray's story, I was pro death penalty, eye for an eye. In good faith I can no hold on to that belief or I would be just like all the others that turned their head at his innocence.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A book I will NEVER forget. GET YOUR COPY..... 10 STARS....