Let No Man Write My Epitaph

by Willard Motley

This novel picks up where Willard Motley's acclaimed "Knock on Any Door" left off. A desperate story of survival, addiction and poverty, a former alter-boy attempts to break free of the debilitating circumstances that have dictated over his life. Ultimately, the protagonist and his mother succumb to drugs and the protagonist follows in his father's footsteps, which ceased at a penitentiary electric chair.

Genres: Fiction

467 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Willard Francis Motley was an American writer. He worked as a freelance writer, and later founded and published the Hull House Magazine and worked in the Federal Writers Project. Motley's first and best-known novel was Knock on Any Door, which was made into a movie by the same name (1947) starring Humphrey Bogart.

According to the citation statement for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame awards, "Motley was criticized in his life for being a black man writing about white characters, a middle-class man writing about the lower class, and a closeted homosexual writing about heterosexual urges. But those more kindly disposed to his work, and there were plenty, admired his grit and heart....Chicago was more complicated than just its racial or sexual tensions, and as a writer his exploration was expansive...." Motley was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.

On March 4, 1965, Motley died in Mexico City, Mexico at age 55. One final novel, Let Noon Be Fair, was published the following year. Since 1929, Chicago has held an annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, (which served as his pen name during his early career at the Chicago Defender) on the second Saturday of August. The parade travels through the city's Bronzeville, Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighborhoods on the south side. The bulk of Motley's archive is held in Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

Reviews

[Izzie Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

As sequels go this is one of the best. Occasonalit went off on tangents when you really wanted it to get back to Nick, Nellie or the uncles; however it was a fantastic book. Im not surprised though, Willard Motley is a gem and a diamond.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was about 14 years old, hiding it under my pillow at night
from my mother who would not allow me to read it
It profoundly affected my psych, as I am now nearing 70 years & still recall the
Tragedies of this book

[Hasana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the original movie, but I also read the book. Both were excellent.

[Fae1956 Hotmailcom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Knock on any Door, but as a sequel, it is still pretty good.

[Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the rare occasions where, in my view, a sequel was even better than the book that preceded it.
(Knock On Any Door).

The film version from 1960 wasn't very good, just okay. With a few needless changes as well.

Excellent writing about the down and outs (as well as few of those better off), in 1950's era Chicago.