Paradise, by Toni Morrison (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)

Life and its various sub-plots has driven a group of women to seek sanctuary in a deserted former convent, originally built as a rich man's mansion. But there is no peace to be found as the citizens of Ruby, Oklahoma direct a terrifying communal ill-will towards these mavericks living free of menfolk. Written in her full-blooded lyric prose, rooted, as ever, in the vernacular, Morrison again takes on her established themes of race and gender, yet introduces a new ferocity into her examination of the divisions between men and women. Despite the stylistic grace, this is a brutal, angry work. Though continuing the story of Black America, begun so brilliantly in her masterworks Beloved (1987) and Jazz (1992), Paradise - set in the 1970s and sustained by several ambiguities such as who is black?, who is white? who is alive? who is dead? - is ultimately burdened by profundities and big statements.