Originally published in 1947, Ann Petry's classic Country Place
depicts a predominantly white community disillusioned by the indignities
and corruption of small-town life.
Johnnie Roane returns from four years of military service in World War
II to his wife, Glory. They had been married just a year when he left
Lennox, Connecticut, where both their families live and work. In his
taxi ride home, Johnnie receives foreboding hints that all has not been
well in his absence. Eager to mend his fraying marriage, Johnnie
attempts to cajole Glory to recommit to their life together. But
something sinister has taken place during the intervening years - an
infidelity that has not gone unnoticed in the superficially placid New
England town.
Accompanied by a new foreword from Farah Jasmine Griffin on the enduring
legacy of Petry's oeuvre, Country Place complicates and builds on the
legacy of a literary celebrity and one of the foremost African American
writers of her time.