"The Known World"

by Edward P. Jones

Imagine a story you know nothing about. Imagine a history you thought you understood, at least pretty well. Now imagine stepping into a world that is foreign, yet familiar in setting, landscape, language. Touch the character's lives and trust the author to show you just as much as you need to know in order to expand your understanding and move your heart. He doesn't lay it all out, exposed like a newly stripped bed, but peels the layers back, one by one, word by word, giving you a taste, drawing you in, then finally tying the knot on a story wonderfully and masterfully told. 

This is a story of southern America I did not know needed to be told. I confess my ignorance. Jones takes us on a journey, telling us the story of a black farmer and former slave in Manchester County, Virginia, who runs his affairs with unusual discipline. When death takes him unexpectedly, his widow can't uphold the estate's order, and chaos ensues. Jones takes a footnote of history and turns it into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities. (credit ppld.org for this paragraph...)

Try this amazing book!