The Grass is Singing
Doris Lessing author Kate Mosse editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers
Published:17th Jan '13
Should be back in stock very soon
The astonishing debut novel from the Nobel Prize winner, updated for 2026 with an introduction by Kate Mosse and an afterword by Petina Gappah
A masterpiece of realism, The Grass is Singing is a superb evocation of Africa’s majestic beauty, an intense psychological portrait of lives in confusion and a fearless exploration of the ideology of white supremacy.
A masterpiece of realism, The Grass is Singing is a superb evocation of Africa’s majestic beauty, an intense psychological portrait of lives in confusion and a fearless exploration of the ideology of white supremacy.
Set in Rhodesia, Doris Lessing’ astonishing debut novel The Grass is Singing tells the story of Dick Turner, a failed white farmer and his wife, Mary, a town girl who hates the bush. Trapped by poverty, sapped by the heat of their tiny brick-and-iron house, Mar, lonely and frightened turns to Moses, the black cook, for kindness and understanding.
'Original and striking...full of those terrifying touches of truth, seldom mentioned but instantly recognised.' New Statesman 'Doris Lessing responds more passionately than most writers to people or situations: often she responds with hate or rancour, but always with passion. In "The Grass is Singing", you can feel the dynamo-like throb of a formidable talent; by its side, most novels of 1950 look like crochet-work.' The Times '"The Grass is Singing" focuses on the blighted life of a woman whose spirit is destroyed by a disastrous marriage and by an environment to which she couldn't respond. More than any other white African writer of her generation, Doris Lessing is aware of the seductive cruelty of colonialism, and is one of our strongest, fiercest voices against injustice, racism and sexual hypocrisy.' Independent on Sunday
ISBN: 9780007498802
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 16mm
Weight: 150g
224 pages