Book of the Month - November 2023

A novel about the lifelong struggles of an African-American woman living in the South in the early 1900s.

One of the BBC “100 novels that shaped our world” and Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Read the book before the movie! A new film adaptation of The Color Purple, based on the 2005 musical, will be released on Christmas Day. Steven Spielberg and Quincy Jones return to produce this version, along with the stage musical’s producers Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey.

Sisters Celie and Nettie share the pain and struggle of growing up as African-American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Forced into an abusive marriage, at least Celie can offer Nettie refuge from their violent father in her new home – until Nettie catches the attention of Celie’s husband and is forced to leave and forge her own journey.

Through a series of letters spanning twenty years – first from Celie to God, then between the two sisters – they manage to sustain their hope in each other across time, distance and silence, in a triumph of resilience, bravery and ultimately, love.

Born in Georgia in 1944, Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker is an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first Afrо-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for her novel The Color Purple. Over the span of her career, Walker has published seventeen novels and short-story collections, twelve non-fiction works, and collections of essays and poetry.