She was an editor in New York when she wrote her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970) - the story of a black girl who wanted to be white. Morrison said, "I wrote it because I wanted to read it." Seventeen years later, she wanted to read a book about the true story of Margaret Garner, a black slave woman who kills her own child to free him from slavery, but was annoyed and worried that such a story was inaccessible to art. She proved herself wrong with the publication of what many consider her greatest masterpiece, Beloved (1987). She said, When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same. She also said, We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.