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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Violence of slavery depicted with Morrison's characteristically unflinching clarity
Language
Barely any
Period language; some strong terms
Sexual Content
Barely any
Brief sexual content; some abuse implied
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Slavery, abandonment, and the devastating psychological cost of a mother's impossible love
What this book is about
In late seventeenth-century America, a slave woman gives her young daughter to a seemingly kinder master, hoping to save her from a crueler fate. Told from multiple perspectives — the daughter, the master's wife, indentured servants, and the mother herself — Morrison's novella excavates the origins of American slavery with her characteristic compressed power.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Slavery and racial violence
Child abandonment themes
Dark historical setting
Reader Verification
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