The Bluest Eye

<i>The Bluest Eye</i> is Toni Morrison's first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves' garden do not bloom. Pecola's life does change—in painful, devastating ways.&#xa0;<br /><br /> With its vivid evocation of the fear and loneliness at the heart of a child's yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment. <i>The Bluest Eye</i> remains one of Toni Morrison's most powerful, unforgettable novels- and a significant work of American fiction.