The Color Purple

From Strand Bookstore

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Published to unprecedented acclaim, 'The Color Purple' tells the story of two sisters - one a missionary in Africa and the other a child wife living in the South - who sustain their loyalty to and trust in each other across time, distance and silence. Generations of readers have been mesmerized by this indelibly affecting novel. 288p.

From the Publisher

The lives of two sisters--Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a southern woman married to a man she hates--are revealed in a series of letters exchanged over thirty years.

Review

New York Review of Books
"Remarkable expressiveness, color and poignancy...not only a memorable and infinitely touching character but a whole submerged world is vividly called into being."

Review

San Francisco Chronicle
"Superb....A work to stand beside literature of any time and place."

Review

Nation
"'The Color Purple' places Walker in the company of Faulkner."

Review

New York Times Book Review
"Intense emotional impact....Indelibly affecting....Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer."

More about the book

Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.