Praisesong for the Widow, Marshall's third novel, is uncomplicated yet resonant. The main character, Avey Johnson, a late-middle-aged black woman, widowed but secure in a civil-service job in New York, decides to cut short a Caribbean cruise and return home as speedily as possible. Avey is suffering from some "odd discomfort," more psychological than physical; it seems she has lost a firm grasp on the meaning of her past. But rather than going directly back to New York, she is convinced by an old man she meets after disembarking the cruise ship to take a side excursion to an out-of-the-way island. There, she achieves a renewal of her sense of place and significance—as a black, as a woman. There is no limit to the kind of readership to which this novel will appeal; with deft exploration of character, Marshall speaks to anyone interested in thoughtful fiction.

William...