Zora Neale Hurston´s masterpiece is perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature. Published as part of a beautifully designed series to mark the 40th anniversary of the Virago Modern Classics.
´She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her´
When, at sixteen, Janie is caught kissing shiftless Johnny Taylor, her grandmother swiftly marries her off to and old man with sixty acres. Jane endures two stifling marriages before she finally meets the man of her dreams - who offers not diamonds, but a packet of flowering seeds.
With an Introduction by Zadie Smith. Books included in the VMC 40th anniversary series include:
Frost in May by Antonia White
The Collected Stories of Grace Paley
Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter
The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor