Praise for The Execution of Willie Francis

“The informed and reader-friendly discussion of the legal issues and maneuvers attending the Francis appeal, including the intriguing backstage drama at the nation’s highest court, is reason enough to recommend this story, but King’s masterful applications of Bayou State color set this book apart. Ably navigating the bewildering gradations of heritage and race that were so important in postwar Louisiana, he drenches these pages with the lore of the ‘cursed’ Cajun town of St. Martinville, locus of the Thomas murder and terminus of the fictional ‘Evangeline,’ made famous in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem of the same name… Injustice, inhumanity and death, all made strangely charming and unforgettable.”

- Kirkus Starred Review, January 1, 2008

"Gilbert King transforms abstract arguments over Louisiana's right to re-execute a condemned youth into a profound story of flesh and blood. His impassioned portrait of the unlikely bond between two young Catholics, Willie Francis and his undaunted lawyer, Bertrand DeBlanc, is more than a heartwarming affirmation of love and humanity. It's a vitally important story and if you want to better understand America's troubling legacy of capital punishment, read this book."

-Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

“King transports us back to the mysterious Cajun town of 1940s St. Martinville, Louisiana, with the intimate and moving account of a heroic young Cajun lawyer who risks everything to save the life of a poor, stuttering and unforgettable black teenager. The Execution of Willie Francis reads like the best of true crime - a murder mystery, tense courtroom drama, and a harrowing race against the clock to stop Willie from going to the electric chair - a second time.” -

Karen Abbott, author of New York Times Best-seller, Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul

“The Execution of Willie Francis is a compelling and disturbing story of justice gone awry. Gilbert King vividly recreates a time when justice could be elusive, and a place where racial prejudice triumphed over common sense and common decency. His haunting account of a black teenager who survived the electric chair is not only hard to put down - it is impossible to forget.”-

Dean Jobb, author of The Cajuns: A People's Story of Exile and Triumph

 “Gilbert King unravels a compelling mystery about 1940s Louisiana - and in the process presents a thoroughly modern story about American injustice. He tells the story in shades of gray, not black and white, with unforgettable cameos by a Supreme Court justice and so many other amazing figures from our past. The Execution of Willie Francis brims with lessons about power and about the complicated motives behind public decisions.” -

Paul Bass, author of Murder in the Model City: The Black Panthers, Yale, and the Redemption of a Killer

“This book on the trial and execution of a nearly illiterate black youth is as much a meditation on how far our sense of justice has come as it is a recounting of one of the most sensational executions in post-war America.” -

Elliot Jaspin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America