Beloved

Summary

Set in post Civil War Ohio, the novel follows Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman whose home is haunted by the presence of the daughter she lost, and whose past in Kentucky bondage continues to shape every relationship around her. Morrison fuses lyrical, fragmented narration with folklore, history, and unflinching moral questioning to render the long aftermath of slavery. Readers widely consider the book one of the most important American novels of the twentieth century.