The Known World

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER INTERNATIONAL IMPAC DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD WINNER NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ''Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy.'' - The New Yorker In one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize winner, tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order and chaos ensues. In a daring and ambitious novel, Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all of its moral complexities. ''Brilliant. . . . So utterly original that it makes most everything previously written about slavery seem outdated and pedestrian. It belongs on a shelf with other classics of slavery, like Toni Morrison's Beloved and William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner.'' - Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon'' - Time