The Grass Is Singing

by Doris Lessing

permanently. Why, some natives (though not many, thank heavens) had houses as good; and it would give them a bad impression to see white people living in such a way. And then it was that someone used

People did ask, cursorily, why the murderer had given himself up. There was not much chance of escape, but he did have a sporting chance. He could have run to the hills and hidden for a while. Or he could have slipped over the border to Portuguese territory. Then the District Native Commissioner, at a sundowner party,

to make money. He made it. He made plenty.

hand-cuffs, on the bicycles, on the masses of heavy wet leaves. It was

him. They were in fezzes, and their rather fancy-dress uniform. This last thought did not occur to Charlie, who liked his natives either one way or the other: properly dressed according to their station, or in loincloths. He could not bear the half-civilized native. The policemen, picked for their physique, were a fine body of men, but they were put in the shade by Moses, who was a great powerful man, black as polished linoleum, and dressed in a singlet

“Seems much the same.” “Has she been ill?” “No, not

With her signature candor and clarity, Lessing explores new ways to view ourselves and the society we live in, and gives us fresh answers to such enduring questions as how to think for ourselves and how to understand

marriage, Martha Quest struggles to maintain her dignity and her sanity through the misunderstandings, frustrations, infidelities, and degrading violence of a failing marriage. Finally, she must make the heartbreaking choice

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