Toni Morrison is an eternal inspiring and elevating force. Unabashedly Black, woman, brilliant, beautiful, and strong. The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, takes place in Lorain, Ohio, and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression. Beloved is a 1987 novel set after the American Civil War, it tells the story of a family of formerly enslaved people whose Cincinnati home is haunted by a malevolent spirit.