Julienne De Muirier

Only recently rediscovered, «Recitatif» is a literary sensation: the only short story by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Toni Morrison. In it, two young women meet: Roberta and Twyla, both from poor backgrounds, meet in an orphanage and become friends. They are repeatedly brought together by chance, and we learn about their men, their jobs and their children in a series of snapshots. In the end they stand on opposite sides of a protest against racial segregation. But the author leaves open which of the two is white and which is Black.