Ernest J. Gaines

Ernest J Gaines was an American literary fiction author from California that was known for writing some of the most intriguing pieces of fiction. The author was born in the River Lake Plantation in South Louisiana in 1933. Gaines was born to plantation workers Manuel Gaines and Adrian Jeffersons and hence, he spent much of his childhood in the plantation quarter.

The best place to start is the Ernest J. Gaines Standalone Novels series, the earliest of Ernest J. Gaines's multi-book series: it opens with Catherine Carmier (1964) and runs to 8 books across 1964–2017, ending with The Tragedy of Brady Sims (2017).

Ernest J. Gaines has 112 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1964 and 2023. 109 of them belong to 5 named series — the largest being the Ernest J. Gaines Standalone Novels series with 8 books — and 3 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Ernest J. Gaines's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Ernest J. Gaines Standalone Novels (1964–2017, 8 books), Ernest J. Gaines Collections (1968–2005, 2 books) and Ernest J. Gaines Short Stories/Novellas (2015, 1 book), plus 1 more.

This guide splits Ernest J. Gaines's 112 books into 5 named series and 3 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Ernest J. Gaines Standalone Novels (8 books, 1964–2017); Ernest J. Gaines Collections (2 books, 1968–2005); Ernest J. Gaines Short Stories/Novellas (1 book, 2015); Ernest J. Gaines Non-Fiction (1 book, 2019); Literary Conversations (97 books, 1969–2023).