The Grass Is Singing: A Novel

“There is passion here, a piercing accuracy, a rare sensitivity and power. . . . One can only marvel.”—New York Times

Set in Southern Rhodesia under white rule, Doris Lessing's first novel, now celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary, is at once a riveting chronicle of human disintegration, a searing portrait of the brutality of colonialism, a beautifully understated social critique, and a brilliant depiction of the quiet horror of one woman's struggle against a ruthless fate. It's now available as a special Harper Perennial Olive Edition.

Mary Turner is a self-confident, independent young woman who becomes the depressed, frustrated wife of an ineffectual, unsuccessful farmer. Little by little the ennui of years on the farm works its slow poison. Mary's despair progresses until the fateful arrival of Moses, an enigmatic black servant. Locked in anguish, Mary and Moses—master and vassal—are trapped in a web of mounting attraction and repulsion, until their psychic tension explodes with devastating consequences.

Harper Perennial Olive Editions are exclusive small-format editions of some of our bestselling and celebrated titles, and feature unique hand-drawn cover illustrations. All Olive Editions are available for a limited time only.

"An extremely mature psychological study. The Grass Is Singing is full of touches of truth seldom mentioned but instantly recognized. By any standards, this, book shows remarkable powers and imagination." - New Statesman

"Emotional unity and force . . . one of her best works." - New York Review of Books

"Her impressive first novel is told with all the intensity and passion Miss Lessing compacts into all her work." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“There is passion here, a piercing accuracy a rare sensitivity and power. . . . One can only marvel.” - New York Times

“Doris Lessing is one of the most important writers of the past 100 years, a shrewd visionary.”—  - The Times (London)