by Ernest J. Gaines

This is a novel in the guise of the tape-recorded recollection of a 110-year-old black woman who was born a slave but who lived to see the black militancy of the 1960s. The secret of this book's success is the characterization of Miss Jane. She is a master of her people's language. But more than that, she is unsurpassed as a storyteller.

"Ernest Gaines has written a book that comes down on the side of time, on the side of the future." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)