In many respects Ann Petry is a study in contrast. She came from a tiny town in New England to Harlem in 1938. She spent some years in Harlem learning of its people and transmitting their yearnings, feelings, and fears to the printed page. Her experiences in the inner city educated her to the economic hardships of the poor, deepened her sensitivity to the plight of millions of less fortunate black Americans, and made her painfully aware of the degree to which bigotry can erode the personal lives of its victims. Petry is a product of New England, steeped in its values of hard work, independence, and fair play. Her dual personal history has given her an unusual literary vantage point from which she has been able to isolate and dramatize essential aspects of the human condition that transcend geographical and racial boundaries. While changing directions in literary taste...