Brittany Barnett discusses her memoir, "A Knock at Midnight"

When Amazon revealed its choice for the best book of the year, we and perhaps many others were expecting it to be a novel that had topped bestseller lists or other award roundups.

Instead, it chose lawyer Brittany Barnett’s memoir, A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom.

One glance at its summary and the selection made complete sense: it describes how Barnett was inspired to fight for the release of people disproportionally punished by the war on drugs.

Barnett recently appeared on Fresh Air to discuss her book with Terry Gross; you can listen below now or read a transcript on NPR's website.