In The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton shares how God brought him through a thirty year battle to win back his freedom. Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested in 1985 for murder. He had an airtight alibi, but no one seemed interested.

As I listened to the audiobook narrator, Kevin R. Free, questions popped into my head, like: why the judge and the attorneys ignored his alibi? Is Ray leaving something out? Did the local police know him well enough to target him? Or was the color of his skin reason enough?

Ray confesses his sins and how he loves God. He writes about the minor crimes he committed, but he never harmed a soul. Unfortunately, in Alabama during this era, his skin color was more than enough of a reason. Ray goes over his sentencing, which is death. He promises his mother he’ll fight it. Ray sits on death row for thirty years, but he never loses faith in God or the attorney that does help him.

Ray’s imagination is what saved him. He shares some key moments that kept him going. Ray’s faith is tested as he goes through attorneys. He eventually stops fighting, and accepts the death sentence. Even then he stays positive and eventually gets the rest of the inmates to do the same. Ray shares the horrors of death row, listening to men die, as well as dealing with a prison and guards, who did not care. At one point, Ray starts a book club as way to help them get through each day. Eventually Ray’s own book will become an Oprah Book Club choice.

The most touching sections for me had to be Ray’s current attorney reading the Supreme Court’s review thirty years after Ray’s arrest, and how Ray shares a word hope with his fellow prisoners before he’s released. Ray highlights some key moments after being released and how some of his daydreams are coming true.