--- title: New Toni Morrison Novel 'God Help the Child' Answers Her Critics description: Her newest book, 'God Help the Child,' will be released on April 21, 2015 canonical: https://time.com/3819769/toni-morrison-1998/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-21T11:00:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:21:38.156Z article:section: History og:title: New Toni Morrison Novel 'God Help the Child' Answers Her Critics og:description: Her newest book, 'God Help the Child,' will be released on April 21, 2015 og:url: https://time.com/3819769/toni-morrison-1998/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt35e0dbc36dc2ceeb/6987eacd524fc00493df02e8/1101980119_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Jan. 19, 1998, cover of TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Toni Morrison Novel 'God Help the Child' Answers Her Critics twitter:description: Her newest book, 'God Help the Child,' will be released on April 21, 2015 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt35e0dbc36dc2ceeb/6987eacd524fc00493df02e8/1101980119_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Toni Morrison's New Novel Answers Her Critics  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 21, 2015 11:00 AM CUT  The Jan. 19, 1998, cover of TIME The Jan. 19, 1998, cover of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 21, 2015 11:00 AM CUT American author Toni Morrison isn’t exactly new to the writing game, but her latest book, _God Help the Child_, which arrives on Tuesday, is still a first in its own way. The book is being [billed](http://knopfdoubleday.com/book/204834/god-help-the-child/ "undefined") as Morrison’s first to take place “in our current moment” rather than in the past. Looking back at Morrison’s career, the decision to set _God Help the Child_ in modern times gains an extra level of meaning. Morrison’s novels have always addressed issues that mattered to modern readers, despite their sometimes distant setting; as the Nobel-winner told TIME in 1998, when she and her novel _Paradise_ were the subject of a cover story, most the questions she got from fans were “anthropological or sociological or political” rather than literary. And raising those questions, especially about race and gender, was part of her mission as a writer. But, TIME noted, some of her critics found that she distanced herself from the answers by focusing on the past: --- > “” --- Whether _God Help the Child_ receives pans or paeans, that chronological distance won’t be to blame. **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Paradise Found](http://time.com/vault/issue/1998-01-19/page/65/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3819769/toni-morrison-1998/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3819769/toni-morrison-1998/"},"headline":"How Toni Morrison's New Novel Answers Her Critics","datePublished":"2015-04-21T11:00:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:21:38.156Z","description":"Her newest book, 'God Help the Child,' will be released on April 21, 2015","url":"https://time.com/3819769/toni-morrison-1998/","keywords":["Books","Authors"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt35e0dbc36dc2ceeb/6987eacd524fc00493df02e8/1101980119_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt35e0dbc36dc2ceeb/6987eacd524fc00493df02e8/1101980119_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jan. 19, 1998, cover of TIME","caption":"Jan. 19, 1998, cover of TIME","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3819769/toni-morrison-1998/","name":"How Toni Morrison's New Novel Answers Her Critics"}}]}] ```