Song of Solomon

Born in Michigan just after an insurance agent named Robert Smith jumps from a roof in an attempt to fly, Macon Dead III, known as Milkman, grows up stifled and alienated, at odds with his family. Toni Morrison follows him from birth into adulthood as he uncovers his heritage, helped by his aunt Pilate, a conjure woman and bootlegger who offers his first glimpse of the family's past. Her third novel, it won the National Book Critics Circle Award, became a Book of the Month Club main selection and was cited when Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Barack Obama named it among his most influential all-time favorite books, on his Facebook page and in a 2008 New York Times interview.