Set in 1940s Ohio, this hauntingly beautiful novel describes the pain of an African-American girl's desire for beauty. 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove not only seeks a refuge from physical deformity, but from the ugliness of her life -- the racism, poverty and abuse she must endure. This is the Nobel Prize-winning author's first novel, originally published in 1970.  (USM59, $14.00)