Beloved

Beloved by Toni Morrison
1988 Pulitzer Prize

Sethe is a former slave who escaped with her children to her mother-in-law's home in Ohio. Shortly after arriving, slave hunters track them down. Sethe performs a desperate act to protect her children from slavery.

Years later, Sethe's sons have run away, her mother-in-law has died and the town has ostracized Sethe and her remaining daughter Denver. And there's a ghost in the house. A former fellow slave shows up. Sethe hasn't seen Paul D. since she left the plantation but the two decide to try to build a life together. But coming home from a carnival one day, they find the mysterious Beloved sleeping in their yard. And Beloved slowly begins to control the household.

"Beloved" is a story about ghosts. Ghosts in the house, ghosts in the soul and ghosts of the past.