Set in South Africa under white rule, Doris Lessings first novel is both a riveting chronicle of human disintegration and a beautifully understated social critique. Mary Turner is a self-confident, independent young woman who becomes the depressed, frustrated wife of an ineffectual, unsuccessful farmer. Little by little the ennui of years on the farm work their slow poison, and Marys despair progresses until the fateful arrival of an enigmatic and virile black servant, Moses. Locked in anguish, ...