Originally published in 1952, in an expurgated version, as ‘Cast the First Stone’, this unsparing, intense yet affirming novel draws on Chester Himes’ own life – including his youthful imprisonment, his path to writing and his experience of the devastating Ohio Penitentiary fire in 1930. ‘Yesterday Will Make You Cry’ faces down the scouring truths of harm and love, and demonstrates the astonishing lyric range of Himes’ prose.