Lessing, Doris: 1919 - 2013

The Grass Is Singing, 1950 - Summary

The Grass is Singing is set in Zimbabwe, Rhodesia then of course, and it captures the quality of Doris Lessing's early life in Africa. The book starts with the announcement of a murder. Mary Turner has been killed, according to the paper, by her houseboy who was thought to be in search of valuables, so the community unfolds before our eyes. The Turners kept themselves to themselves, we learn about the place where she lived and then we go back to her life as a flashback. She grew up in a South Africa where her life was bound to be constrained. Her marriage to Dick Turner is conventional 'he might have been anybody', they had very little in common. She even tries at one point to run away. She has mental difficulties. But she develops a very interesting and absorbing relationship with the black house boy, Moses. There's sexual attraction, but such a thing as consummation is unimaginable in her society. He's going to be sent away, but tragedy intervenes. On the Turner's last day on the farm she rushes onto the veranda, Moses is there, he stabs her and we're back to where we started with Mary's death.
From the BBC