51�Թ�

Ms. Morrison, who died in 2019 at 88 years old, was the author of 11 novels, including “The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved.”

Winfrey praised her late friend Morrison, who started her book club in 1996 with Morrison’s novel from the same year “Song of Solomon” in mind.

It sounds like the opening of Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon,” except that this really happened.

In it, she had written, “I think you might propose today,” along with a quote from the Bible’s Song of Solomon: “I have found the one whom my soul loves.”

Morrison’s works — among them, “Beloved,” “The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon” and “Sula” — have inspired readers with lyrical writings that portray the realities of Black life in America.