Martha Quest, the embattled heroine of the five books (this being the third) in the "Children of Violence" series, has been acclaimed one of the greatest fictional creations in the English language. In this book the author charts Martha Quest's personal and political adventures in race-torn British Africa, following Martha through World War II, a grotesque second marriage, and an excursion into Communism. The book perceptively reveals the paradoxes, passions, and ironies rooted in the life of contemporary Anglo-Africa.
Winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, Doris Lessing was one of the most celebrated and distinguished writers of our time, the recipient of a host of international awards. She wrote more than thirty books—among them the novels Martha Quest, The Golden Notebook, and The Fifth Child. She died in 2013.