If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Toni Morrison must have written the Bible. Her voice has such authority and command. And this is evident in her new novel, Home. No, this isn't from the Book of Proverbs, but maybe it could be:

"Misery don't call ahead. That's why you have to stay awake – otherwise it just walks on in your door." And walk on in it did.

His name is Frank Money: "Women are eager to talk to me when they hear my last name. Money! They snigger and ask the same questions: Who named me that or if anybody did. If I made it up to make myself feel important or was I a gambler or thief or some other kind of crook they should look out for? When I tell them my nickname, what folks back home call me, Smart Money, they scream with laughter and say: Ain't no such thing as dumb money, just dumb folks." But Frank isn't one of those.

Morrison's story is set in Georgia, and Frank Money is an African-American vet returning from the Korean Conflict. Frank has seen the horrors of war up close and can't get them out of his head, or heart. The things he has witnessed and participated in play on a continuous loop in the movie of his memory, no matter how hard he tries to stop the images. And the horror doesn't end on his return to Georgia. "An integrated army is integrated misery. You all go fight, come back, they treat you like dogs. Change that. They treat dogs better."

And in 1950s Georgia, that type of treatment isn't reserved for Vets, but all people of color. In Frank's absence, his sister Cee has gone to work for a white country doctor who fancies himself a scientist, though a sadist is more like it. The doctor experiments on Cee with disastrous results, almost killing her, until Frank saves her and brings her home to heal.

It is the women in their hometown who attend to her as they would a sister, or a daughter. Cee heals, and we can heal. A life lived well can be a life redeemed. Sometimes it doesn't take a hero, just a man, and no matter how tough life and love can be, there is forgiveness -- in Toni Morrison's new book, one can always be welcomed home.