There was a discussion about Doris Lessing last month on her death and what would be a good first choice for those who had never read any of her books, that group including myself. I recently read The Grass is Singing and can highly recommend it. It worked for me just as a study of relationships among the characters, but also as an examination of the racial views in South Africa at the time the book was set. That to fit into white society no white dare question the assumption that any white was far superior to any African.