Pulitzer prize-winner Marilynne Robinson follows up Gilead with Home (Virago,October). It looks as though the author is not finished with the people and places in Gilead as this novel continues on with them. Jack, the wayward son, returns home after decades away. The family hope that their love will be enough to make him stay, that he is capable of change. Of course, there will be further complexities.

Set two centuries earlier than Beloved, another novel that promises to be a powerful tale of tragedy and displacement is Toni Morrison’s A Mercy (Chatto & Windus, November). Florens, a young girl, is taken in by an Anglo-Dutch trader despite his distaste for dealing in ‘flesh’. There are also the voices of Florens' mother, a sea captain’s daughter, a native American woman, and a tribe mistress Rebekka. Toni Morrison’s first novel in five years is sure to be a powerful one.

This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

Tags: marilynne robinson, toni morrison