A novel set in Ohio after the American Civil War, centred on Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery and now lives with her daughter Denver in a house troubled by a restless presence. When Paul D, a man from her past on the plantation, arrives, old memories are stirred and a strange young woman appears. Morrison draws on the real history of slavery to explore trauma, motherhood and the struggle to live with what cannot be forgotten. It is often counted among the great American novels, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Quotes
124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom.
My first-born. All I can remember of her is how she loved the burned bottom of bread. Can you beat that? Eight children and that's all I remember.
If a Negro got legs he ought to use them. Sit down too long, somebody will figure out a way to tie them up.
A man ain't nothing but a man. But a son? Well, now, that's somebody.