The Grass Is Singing
The debut novel is a concise entry into Lessing's African setting, social critique, and psychological realism.
Author guide
Doris Lessing Books in Order
Doris May Lessing (1919–2013) was a British writer born in Persia and raised in Southern Rhodesia, who moved to London in 1949. Her wide-ranging work addresses colonialism, race, gender, politics, psychology, aging, and speculative social futures across novels, short fiction, memoir, essays, drama, poetry, and graphic fiction. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007.
literary fictionspeculative fictionshort fictionnonfictionmemoirdramapoetrygraphic fiction
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
The Golden Notebook
Her landmark modernist novel offers the clearest introduction to her formal experimentation and major political and feminist concerns.
Shikasta: Re: Colonised Planet 5
The opening Canopus novel is the natural starting point for her large-scale speculative fiction.
Read in order
Books by series
novel-series · complete
Children of Violence
A five-novel sequence following Martha Quest from colonial Southern Rhodesia through adulthood, political disillusionment, and social transformation.
novel-series · complete
Canopus in Argos: Archives
A five-volume speculative fiction sequence portraying the history and manipulation of Earth and other civilizations by advanced interstellar powers.
- 1 Shikasta: Re: Colonised Planet 5Amazon ↗
Book 1 · novel · 1979
- 2 The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and FiveAmazon ↗
Book 2 · novel · 1980
- 3
The Sirian ExperimentsAmazon ↗Book 3 · novel · 1981
- 4
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8Amazon ↗Book 4 · novel · 1982
- 5 Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen EmpireAmazon ↗
Book 5 · novel · 1983
novel-series · complete
Mara and Dann
A two-novel sequence about siblings surviving ecological catastrophe and social upheaval in a future Africa.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (22)
- The Grass Is SingingAmazon ↗
novel · 1950
- A Retreat to InnocenceAmazon ↗
novel · 1956
-
In Pursuit of the English: A DocumentaryAmazon ↗nonfiction · 1960
- The Golden NotebookAmazon ↗
novel · 1962
-
Particularly CatsAmazon ↗nonfiction · 1967
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Briefing for a Descent into HellAmazon ↗novel · 1971
-
The Summer Before the DarkAmazon ↗novel · 1973
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The Memoirs of a SurvivorAmazon ↗novel · 1974
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The Diary of a Good NeighbourAmazon ↗novel · 1983
- If the Old Could…Amazon ↗
novel · 1984
-
The Good TerroristAmazon ↗novel · 1985
- The Wind Blows Away Our WordsAmazon ↗
nonfiction · 1987
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The Fifth ChildAmazon ↗novella · 1988
- Particularly Cats and Rufus the SurvivorAmazon ↗
nonfiction · 1993
- Playing the GameAmazon ↗
graphic-novel · 1995
-
Love, AgainAmazon ↗novel · 1996
- The PitAmazon ↗
novella · 1996
- The Old Age of El MagnificoAmazon ↗
novella · 2000
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Ben, in the WorldAmazon ↗novel · 2000
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The Sweetest DreamAmazon ↗novel · 2001
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The CleftAmazon ↗novel · 2007
- On Not Winning the Nobel PrizeAmazon ↗
nonfiction · 2008
Nonfiction (5)
- Going HomeAmazon ↗
memoir · 1957
- African Laughter: Four Visits to ZimbabweAmazon ↗
memoir · 1992
- Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949Amazon ↗
memoir · 1994
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Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949–1962Amazon ↗memoir · 1997
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Alfred & EmilyAmazon ↗memoir · 2008
Short fiction (14)
- This Was the Old Chief's CountryAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1951
- Five: Short NovelsAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1953
- The Habit of LovingAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1957
- A Man and Two WomenAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1963
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African StoriesAmazon ↗short-story-collection · 1964
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The Black MadonnaAmazon ↗short-story-collection · 1966
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Winter in JulyAmazon ↗short-story-collection · 1966
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The Story of a Non-Marrying Man and Other StoriesAmazon ↗short-story-collection · 1972
- The Sun Between Their FeetAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1973
- To Room Nineteen: Collected Stories, Volume OneAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1978
- The Temptation of Jack Orkney: Collected Stories, Volume TwoAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1978
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The Real Thing: Stories and SketchesAmazon ↗short-story-collection · 1992
- Spies I Have Known and Other StoriesAmazon ↗
short-story-collection · 1995
-
The Grandmothers: Four Short NovelsAmazon ↗short-story-collection · 2003
