Beloved

After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl com... (more)

After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved." Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things begin to happen. Set in rural Ohio several years after the Civil War, this profoundly affecting chronicle of slavery and its aftermath is Toni Morrison's greatest novel, a dazzling achievement, and the most spellbinding reading experience of the decade. A brutally powerful, mesmerizing story ... read it and tremble. At the center of Toni Morrison's fifth novel, which earned her the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is an almost unspeakable act of horror and heroism: a woman brutally kills her infant daughter rather than allow her to be enslaved. The woman is Sethe, and the novel traces her journey from slavery to freedom during and immediately following the Civil War. Woven into this circular, mesmerizing narrative are the horrible truths of Sethe's past: the incredible cruelties she endured as a slave, and the hardships she suffered in her journey north to freedom. Just as Sethe finds the past too painful to remember, and the future just "a matter of keeping the past at bay," her story is almost too painful to read. Yet Morrison manages to imbue the wreckage of her characters' lives with compassion, humanity, and humor. Part ghost story, part history lesson, part folk tale, Beloved finds beauty in the unbearable, and lets us all see the enduring promise of hope that lies in anyones future. (less)

Toni Morrison's magnificent Pulitzer Prize-winning novel--first published in 1987--brings the unimaginable experience of... (more)

Toni Morrison's magnificent Pulitzer Prize-winning novel--first published in 1987--brings the unimaginable experience of slavery into the literature of today and into the reader's comprehension. (less)

With her husband Tyson missing for eight years, Diana Brennan seeks to declare him legally dead in order to remarry, but... (more)

With her husband Tyson missing for eight years, Diana Brennan seeks to declare him legally dead in order to remarry, but when Tyson returns as a supposedly changed man, Diana must decide if he has really changed for the better. (less)

With her husband Tyson missing for eight years, Diana Brennan seeks to declare him legally dead in order to remarry, but... (more)

With her husband Tyson missing for eight years, Diana Brennan seeks to declare him legally dead in order to remarry, but when Tyson returns as a supposedly changed man, Diana must decide if he has really changed for the better. (less)

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as ... (more)

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement. After the Civil War ends, Sethe longingly recalls the two-year-old daughter whom she killed when threatened with recapture after escaping from slavery 18 years before. (less)

Literature guides created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter... (more)

Literature guides created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster. Geared to what today's students need to know. SparkNotes provides:chapter-by-chapter analysis explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols; a review quiz and essay topics. Lively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers. (less)

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Recently named the Best work of American fiction in the last 25 years by the New York times book review. First published... (more)

Recently named the Best work of American fiction in the last 25 years by the New York times book review. First published in 1987, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Beloved has become a modern classic, read and re-read by people of all ages and races. Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. (less)

A beguiling tale of romance, love and lust about a mother & daughter each striving to find the one. Starring Catherine D... (more)

A beguiling tale of romance, love and lust about a mother & daughter each striving to find the one. Starring Catherine Deneuve and real-life daughter, Chiara Mastroianni. (less)