Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self. The novel has been adapted into a film and a musical. The film featured Oprah Winfrey and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but won none (this was very controversial as critics believed it to be the best film of the year). The musical was nominated for 5 Outer Critics Circle Awards and 11 Tony Awards.
Watch the film trailer:
Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple on Broadway:
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The novel has often been censored for its themes: racism, sexism, pedophilia, violence, lesbianism; and it appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999 at number 17.
It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award.
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