The Color Purple

This epistolary novel is set in the rural American South in the early twentieth century. Celie, a poor Black girl abused by the man she calls Pa and then by her husband Albert, writes letters first to God and later to her lost sister Nettie, who has gone to Africa with missionaries. Shug Avery, a blues singer and Albert's lover, becomes Celie's ally; Sofia and Harpo struggle over a marriage; Nettie's letters report life among the Olinka. The plot follows Celie's slow claim on work, affection, and a voice of her own. The book is a novel of letters, not a history of the civil rights movement.

Bound in cloth printed and blocked on covers with a multicolour pattern. Purple picture printed slipcase.