Gilead

marilynne robinson

A hymn of praise and lamentation from a 1950s preacher man. Atestament to the sacred bonds between fathers and sons. A psalm of celebrationand acceptance of the best and the worst that the world has to offer. This isthe story of generations, as told through a family history written by ReverendJohn Ames, a legacy for the young son he will never see grow up. As John recordsthe tale of the rift between his own father and grandfather, he also struggleswith the return to his small town of a friend’s prodigal son in search offorgiveness and redemption.

The winner of two major literary awards and a New York Times Top10 Book of 2004, Gilead is an exquisitely written work of literaryfiction, destined to become a classic, by one of today’s finest writers.

Genres fictionhistorical fictionbook clubliterary fictionnovelsliteratureclassicsaudiobookhistoricalcontemporary

247 pages, Paperback

First published October 28,2004

Series

Gilead

Literary awards

pulitzer prize, orange prize, pen/faulkner award for fiction, ambassador book award, los angeles times book prize, chicago tribune heartland prize, rodda book award, national book critics circle award, frederic g. melcher book award, society of midland authors award, grawemeyer award,

Places

gilead iowa, iowa, midwest,

This edition

Format: 247 pages, Paperback
Published: January 1, 2005 by Harper Perennial
ISBN: 9780006393832
ASIN: 0006393837
Language: English

Characters More characters

About the author

marilynne robinson

American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson was named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. Robinson began teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1991 and retired in the spring of 2016.

Robinson is best known for her novels Housekeeping (1980) and Gilead (2004). Her novels are noted for their thematic depiction of both rural life and faith. The subjects of her essays have spanned numerous topics, including the relationship between religion and science, US history, nuclear pollution, John Calvin, and contemporary American politics.