A Lesson Before Dying (1993)

Jefferson has already been sentenced to death when schoolteacher Grant Wiggins becomes involved in the effort to help him preserve his dignity. Gaines moves attention from winning a case to the daily work of treating a condemned person as fully human. Set in segregated Louisiana, the novel gives injustice a continuing presence in visits, work and family expectations. Choose it for care that remains meaningful even when the people offering it have little institutional power.