"Dear God: I am fourteen years old. I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me."So begins Alice Walker's poignant novel set in the deep American south between the wars.

Celie has been raped by the man she calls her father; her two children have been taken away from her; she has been parted from her sister and forced into an ugly marriage.

Then she meets Shug Avery, singer and magic maker, and Celie discovers not the pain of female rivalry but the love and support of women.THE AUTHORAlice Walker won the Pulitzer prize and the American Book Award for THE COLOR PURPLE.

She is the author of many bestselling novels, essays and collections of poetry.