The Grass is Singing (Doris Lessing)

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 a fearless exploration of the ideology of white supremacy.

Set in Rhodesia, Doris Lessing' astonishing debut novel The Grass is Singing 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, Mar, lonely and frightened turns to Moses, the black cook, for kindness and understanding.

Doris Lessing was one of the most important writers of the second half of the 20th-century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook and The Good Terrorist. In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008, The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". She died in 2013.

KATE MOSSE is the international No.1 bestselling and award-winning author of thirteen novels, six works of history and memoir and five plays, and Founder Director of the Women's Prize for Fiction and for Non-Fiction.

Twenty years ago, Mosse's game-changing Grail adventure, Labyrinth, became a multi-million-copy global bestseller. Translated into thirty-eight languages and adapted into a Ridley Scott television series, its conspiracy story, interwoven with a captivating slice of French history, helped readers fall in love with Carcassonne. Borderlands is her first medieval/modern timeslip novel since Labyrinth, introducing readers to le Mont Saint-Michel on the eve of the Norman Conquest of England and the present day.

Awarded a CBE in the King's New Year's Honours List 2024 for services to literature, women and charity, Kate Mosse is a visiting professor of Creative Writing & Contemporary Literature at the University of Chichester and a Trustee of the British Library.