News of an upcoming Toni Morrison novel set the literary scene ablaze this week. Titled God Help the Child, the novel will be released by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on April 30, USA Today reports.

The story reportedly opens as follows: "It's not my fault. So you can't blame me. I didn't do it and have no idea how it happened.”

As NPR reports, God Help the Child centers on a beautiful woman named Bride, "whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life; but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love until she told a lie that ruined the life of an innocent woman, a lie whose reverberations refuse to diminish.”

Avid Morrison fans will be happy to learn that several characters also bear equally weighty names, including Booker, Rain and Sweetness.

This highly anticipated book will mark the 83-year-old author’s 11th novel in an esteemed line of written work that has earned her a Nobel Peace Prize, a Pulitzer Prize and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"It is a compact, fierce work of contemporary fiction, one that unfolds in the aftermath of an allegation made by a student about a teacher,” Sonny Mehta, chairman and editor in chief of Knopf, said in a statement.
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