The Known World

From National Book Award-nominated author Edward P. Jones comes a debut novel of stunning emotional depth and unequaled literary power

Henry Townsend, a farmer, boot maker, and former slave, through the surprising twists and unforeseen turns of life in antebellum Virginia, becomes proprietor of his own plantation--as well his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart at their plantation: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love under the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend household, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave “speculators” sell free black people into slavery, and rumors of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.

An ambitious, courageous, luminously written masterwork, The Known World seamlessly weaves the lives of the freed and the enslaved--and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery. The Known World not only marks the return of an extraordinarily gifted writer, it heralds the publication of a remarkable contribution to the canon of American classic literature.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Amistad Press
Published: 08/14/2003
ISBN: 9780060557546
Pages: 400
Weight: 1.27lbs
Size: 9.32h x 6.43w x 1.30d
Award: National Book Awards - Finalist
Award: National Book Critics Circle Award - Winner
Award: Pulitzer Prize - Winner
Award: ALA Notable Books - Winner
Award: Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary_award - Winner
Award: Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers - Nominee
Award: International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - Winner

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 05/15/2003 pg. 66
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2003 pg. 928
Publishers Weekly 08/11/2003 pg. 253
Library Journal 08/01/2003 pg. 131
Entertainment Weekly 08/22/2003 pg. 134
New Yorker (The) 09/01/2003 pg. 127
New York Times 08/31/2003 pg. 9
Qbr the Black Book Review 09/01/2003 pg. 4
People Weekly 09/29/2003 pg. 45
Booklist 09/15/2003 pg. 211
Essence 11/01/2003 pg. 150
Booksense '76 Sep/Oct 2003 09/01/2003 pg. 1
Black Issues Book Review 11/01/2003 pg. 50
Entertainment Weekly 12/26/2003 pg. 150
People Weekly 12/29/2003 pg. 44
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2004 pg. 776
New York Times 12/07/2003 pg. 59
Time 04/19/2004 pg. 74
Multicultural Review 06/01/2004 pg. 56
Booklist 05/15/2004 pg. 1610
New York Review of Books 10/21/2004 pg. 14
Black Issues Book Review 11/01/2004 pg. 32
Library Journal 05/15/2003
Ebony 02/01/2013 pg. 73

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 73563 / Known World
Reading Level: 5.8 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 22