The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Edward P. Jones blends beautifully descriptive writing and a lyrical prose style with heart-wrenching stories in his first novel The Known World. The death of Henry Townsend, an African-American slave owner, sends repercussions rippling through rural Manchester County Virginia. Jones examines Townsend’s own life as a slave, his parents’ struggle to free him, and the effects of slavery on both white and black, many of whom don’t even realize the marks that “the peculiar institution” leaves on their bodies and souls. When Townsend dies, the world that he has so carefully constructed begins to fracture, as his wife cannot hold their plantation together. Jones addresses difficult questions of class, race, and sexuality, and creates a rich background where his characters live and work and die. Written in flowing poetic language that does not conceal the harsh truths of slavery, The Known World won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

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