Paradise

More about the book

"They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time.” This chilling opening sets the stage for a narrative steeped in violence and its roots within an all-black small town in rural Oklahoma. In her first novel after receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, Toni Morrison delivers a powerful exploration of a community's tumultuous history. The story unfolds in 1976, as nine men from Ruby, a town of 360 residents, attack the nearby Convent and its women, defending their "one all-black town worth the pain." Tracing Ruby's origins from 1890 to the day of the assault, the narrative delves into the complexities of a people acutely aware of their past and the looming threat of external evil. Founded by descendants of freed slaves, Ruby embodies a patriarchal society steeped in righteousness and fear. Meanwhile, a group of women seeking refuge from despair has formed just seventeen miles away. The assault on the Convent becomes an outlet for the men's pain and rage. Through lyrical prose that resonates with the grandeur of an epic poem, Morrison challenges entrenched beliefs, intertwining folklore, history, and myth in a profound meditation on race, religion, gender, and the enduring impact of a distant past.