'A classic is generally described as a work that one returns to time and again. The classic in this
sense may even be a classic passage, line or page: something that one loves to read again and
again. The return to a work (passage, line or page) is not always compelled by the aesthetic: the
compulsion could arise from something very personal. It could very well be the case that the
lines/words/ideas compel the reader to 'return' because they have struck a chord in him/her. For
me that 'chord' was the story of how Ruby Langford Ginibi became a writer.' (Author's introduction, 56)