Short description
From the author of Housekeeping , Gilead is the second novel by one of America's finest writers. It is chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of the top 6 novels of 2004.
Long description
In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, a kind of last testament to his remarkable forebears.'It is a book of such meditative calm, such spiritual intensity that is seems miraculous that her silence was only for 23 years; such measure of wisdom is the fruit of a lifetime. Robinson's prose, aligned with the sublime simplicity of the language of the Bible, is nothing short of a benediction. You might not share its faith, but it is difficult not to be awed moved and ultimately humbled by the spiritual effulgence that lights up the novel from within' - Neel Mukherjee, The Times .'Writing of this quality, with an authority as unforced as the perfect pitch in music, is rare and carries with it a sense almost of danger - that at any moment, it might all go wrong. In Gilead , however, nothing goes wrong' - Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph .
Review
Gilead is no less a masterpiece than Housekeeping Sunday Times Stunning... there are gems on every page of Gilead, but it is the whole construction that marks it as a great work Daily Telegraph The slow pulse of Robinson's writing slows the reader's eye and mind, and creates in the reading process a literary version of the narrator's spiritual experience. Gilead reminds us that words have power to spare, to forgive, to do justice Independent A novel as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering. Kirkus Review