From the blurb:
Doris Lessing brought the manuscript of The Grass is Singing, her classic first novel, with her when she left Southern Rhodesia and came to England in 1950. When it was first published it created an impact whose reverberations we are still feeling, and immediately established itself as a landmark in twentieth-century literature.
Set in Rhodesia, it tells the story of Dick Turner, a failed white farmer and his wife, Mary, a town girl who hates the bush. Trapped by poverty, sapped by the heat of their tiny brick and iron house, Mary, lonely and frightened, turns to Moses, the black cook, for kindness and understanding.
A masterpiece of realism, The Grass is Singing is a superb evocation of Africa's majestic beauty, an intense psychological portrait of lives in confusion and, most of all, a passionate exploration of the ideology of white supremacy.

Bought for my NSS partner from her wishlist. This version of the book has a different cover to the one shown.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending in my NSSSBSSS parcel.

Received along with 3 more books and lots of goodies, thanks.

I am trying to get to grips with the stack of 1001 books I have on my shelf, and as I recently read The Eye of the Leopard, also set in Africa, I thought I'd read this one.

The book opens with the notice in a paper of the murder of Mary Turner, wife of a farmer in Rhodesia, and then moves back in time so we can see how this came to happen. Mary had a hard childhood, her family was poor, she was the only survivor of three children. She breaks free when she goes to boarding school, then on to living in the Club, but unlike other girls, she has no desire to leave and marry. Overhearing a coversation about her causes her to take another look at her life, and to conform. Enter Dick, a farmer who has come up to town, in each other they think they have the perfect partner, deliberately blind to the glaring differences between them. Mary soon realises she is trapped again in the poor circumstances of her upbringing.
The book also brings up other issues, the relationship between the white farmers and the natives, for one. In particular, Mary's relationship with them, as a woman living in town, she wasn't in such close proximity to them, but now finds herself having to take control. Her tyrannical treatment, borne out of an inbred fear, causes Dick problems as the houseboys leave one by one.
Another important issue is the land around them, the land that Dick loves, knows and understands, but which Mary sees with contempt. The weather also plays a part in their relationship, Mary finds the heat oppressive.

Definitely a good choice for the 1001 list, I plan to donate it to the 1001-Library.

Thanks so much for your donation soffitta1!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Totje2.

It arrived safely today. soffitta1, thank you for all the 1001-books you have sent me. I'm looking forward to read it. And, as soon as I've finished the one you showed interest in, I'll send it to you

Reserved to be read and put in Soffitta1's 1001-VBB.

I was very curious for this book, from the blurp it looked like an interesting read. When Soffitta1's 1001-VBB came along, I decided it was finally time to read it and pass it on to another member.
Too bad, that I did NOT like it from the start. |decided to give it a try anyway, but did not get past page 50. Just not a book for me. There are more books to read, so I'm going to pass it along to mafarrimond.
Hopefully she will like it better!

On its way to mafarrimond, who requested this book from Soffitta1's VBB.

Happy reading!!

The book has arrived safely. Thanks very much for sharing.

I was a bit unsure how I'd get on with this following BiekenTrol's experience but I really enjoyed it.

A good addition to the 1001 book list.

Posted on!

Arrived today. Thanks mafarrimond for posting it!
I will read this book for the Country Hopping challenge as well as for the 1001 list.

I have put this book in the UK 1001 books VBB and hope that someone will choose it.

Now on to another reader!

Received!

Thanks saskiasosmile for sharing through the 1001 library!