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Gilead
On sale
25th September 2008
Price: £19.99
Orange Prize, 2006
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
‘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
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Reviews
A novel as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering.
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
Rapturous... astonishing... Gilead is an inspired work from a writer whose sensibility seems steeped in holy fire
Gilead is a refuge for readers longing for that increasingly rare work of fiction, one that explores big ideas while telling a good story
It is a book of such meditative calm, such spiritual intensity that it 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
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
Gilead is no less a masterpiece than Housekeeping
A visionary work of dazzling originality
Stunning... there are gems on every page of Gilead, but it is the whole construction that marks it as a great work
Poignant, absorbing, lyrical... Robinson manages to convey the miracle of existence itself
"Grace is not so poor a thing that it cannot present itself in any number of ways", Ames tells of his son; the same can be said of this book, one of the best American novels in recent memory, so replete with grace that almost anyone should find a balm in Gilead
A novel as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering
Stunning... there are gems on every page of Gilead, but it is the whole construction that marks it as a great work
Gilead is Marilynne Robinson's first novel since her highly acclaimed debut, Housekeeping, 24 years ago, and its measured prose manifests a spiritual power that well rewards the wait
Gilead is no less a masterpiece than Housekeeping
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
So serenely beautiful and written in a prose so gravely measured and thoughtful, that one feels touched with grace just to read it
A beautiful novel: wise, tender and perfectly measured
Her poetic, almost biblical style of writing... flows like clear cold water and is full of quiet power while remaining oddly conversational... People say they love these books, and I can see why. Quite how they can do so without discerning within them a serious, deep, patient but modest defence of the Christian proposition, I do not know