The Chosen Place, The Timeless People

Paule Marshall, 1929 - Novelist Paule Marshall was born on April 9, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from Brooklyn College and worked briefly as a librarian before joining Our World magazine in 1953. Marshall's first autobiographical novel "Brown Girl, Brownstones" (1959) is about an American girl of Barbadian parents who travels to their homeland as an adult and was critically acclaimed for its acute rendition of dialogue. "Soul Clap Hands and Sing" (1961) is a collection of four novellas that present four aging men coming to terms with refusing to affirm lasting values. "The Chosen Place, the Timeless People" (1969) takes place on a fictional Caribbean island where a philanthropist attempts to modernize the impoverished and oppressed society. "Praisesong for the Widow" (1983) states her belief that African-Americans need to rediscover their heritage and "Daughters" (1991) tells of a West Indian woman in New York who returns home to assist her father's reelection campaign.