Beloved

A formerly enslaved woman is haunted by the ghost of her dead daughter in post-Civil War Ohio, one of the most devastating novels in the English language.

Why Start Here

Beloved is Morrison’s greatest achievement and the right entry into her work because it demonstrates everything she can do at the same moment. It is a ghost story, a trauma narrative, and a meditation on the nature of memory and love under conditions of absolute dehumanization. It is also, despite its subject matter, a deeply human novel, one that insists on the inner lives of people whom history rendered invisible.

The novel is based on the true story of Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who killed her infant daughter rather than allow her to be recaptured. Morrison does not let this be simple. She follows the logic of love and catastrophe to its most devastating conclusion.

What to Expect

Non-linear structure. Present and past interpenetrating. A prose style that shifts between lush beauty and stark horror. This is not an easy read emotionally, but Morrison’s language carries you through. It is one of those novels that changes the way you think about what fiction can do.