Product Description

It is the mid-1800s. At Sweet Home in Kentucky, an era is ending as slavery comes under attack from the abolitionists. The worlds of Halle and Paul D. are to be destroyed in a cataclysm of torment and agony. The world of Sethe, however, is to turn from one of love to one of violence and death - the death of Sethe's baby daughter, Beloved, whose name is the single word on the tombstone, who died at her mother's hands, and who will return to claim retribution.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228943 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover

From the Publisher
The novel powerfully portrays the meanings of what it means to be owned by another and the difficulty of owning oneself. Mythic in scope, Beloved is an attempt to grapple with the legacy of slavery.
With a new introduction by A S Byatt

About the Author
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford, in 1931 in Lorain (Ohio), the second of four children in a black working-class family. Displayed an early interest in literature. Studied humanities at Howard and Cornell Universities, followed by an academic career at Texas Southern University, Howard University, Yale, and since 1989, a chair at Princeton University. She has also worked as an editor for Random House, a critic, and given numerous public lectures, specializing in African-American literature. She made her debut as a novelist in 1970, soon gaining the attention of both critics and a wider audience for her epic power, unerring ear for dialogue, and her poetically-charged and richly-expressive depictions of Black America. A member since 1981 of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she has been awarded a number of literary distinctions, among them the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

Customer Reviews

I stand in awe of Ms. Morrison's writing!
Reading this book it was obvious to see why Toni Morrison won a Nobel prize for literature.

The story follows the story of Sethe, a 19th century slave woman, the family she works for and the sudden appearance of a young woman in her life called Beloved who. by some eery coincidence appears to be Sethe's daughter, dead for over a decade. Beloved appears innocent enough at first, hoever soon begins to claim what she believes is rightfully hers: Sethe and everything about her, her womanhood, her motherhood, and the affection she never had the opportunity to give her long-lost daughter.

This book is a fascinating account of slavery and racial discrimination, as well as the nightmare that guilt can be. It describes the full spectrum of human emotions from selfless altruistic generosity to monstrous, destructive jealousy and guilt. The writing is thick with description and it will have you carried away in no time. I found myself utterly absorbed in the nightmarish story that is so flooded with love and despair at the same time.

I find Toni Morrison's writing should be an example to all writers. I was swept away by her story and I think anyone who reads this book will. Highly recommended!

Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beloved is a novel that leaves a indelible print on your memory. The story of Beloved is a powerful one, one that will shock you, that will make you sad, but above all one that will help you understand the anguish and suffering of being an Afro-American female slave in the nineteenth century. It is beautifully written, the event at the centre of the novel being slowly revealed - like the layers of an onion. Morrison's prose is poetry, often told in a similar style to traditional African oral story telling. Beloved is the mysterious daughter of Sethe, a slave in Kentucky in the mid 1800s; whose death is to have dark and painful retributions. A book that has to be read