The Third Life of Grange Copeland is the debut novel

Debut novel

A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...

 of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author Alice Walker

Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...

. Published in 1970

1970 in literature

The year 1970 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Deliverance by American poet James Dickey published...

, it is set in rural Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

. It tells the story of Grange, his wife, their son Brownfield, and grand-daughter Ruth.

Plot summary

As a poor sharecropper, Grange is virtually a slave; in cotton-era Baker County, Georgia

Baker County, Georgia

Baker County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia. , the population is 4,074. The 2007 Census Estimate placed the population at 3,781. The county seat is Newton.Baker County is included in the Albany, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

, the more he works, the more money he ends up owing to the man who owns the fields he works and the house he lives in. Eventually life becomes too much for him and he runs away from his debts to start a new life up North, leaving his family behind.
After declining a loan from a white landowner which he knows he can't pay back, Brownfield begins to head North on foot to follow in his father's footsteps.
Brownfield is led to a woman named Josie who owns and operates a lounge/brothel called the Dew Drop Inn (in some printings, the Dewey Inn). Brownfield winds up sharing a bed with Josie, her daughter Lorene, and Josie's deceased sister's daughter Mem. Brownfield takes a liking to Mem and eventually marries her under the disapproving Josie's nose.
Brownfield beats and eventually kills Meme (sometimes printed as "Mem") and is jailed for an arbitrary seven years.
Grange finds the North unfulfilling and returns to Baker County, which is the only place he knows of as home.

Analysis

Like many first novels this is a disguised autobiography as Brownfield and Meme's circumstances resemble Alice Walker

Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...

's parents and their daughter herself.