Home Home is the second novel in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead cycle, companion to Gilead (2004) and predecessor to Lila (2014) — three books that together constitute one of the most quietly extraordinary achievements in contemporary American fiction. Where Gilead is narrated by the aging minister John Ames in letters to his young son, Home unfolds in the same Iowa town at the same moment, but from the inside of the Boughton household next door. Glory, the youngest daughter, has returned to care for her ailing father. Her brother Jack — the family's prodigal, its wound — comes home too, carrying something he cannot yet put down. Robinson writes in a prose of extraordinary stillness. Sentences arrive with the weight of long thought behind them, and the novel's drama is largely interior: a conversation at a kitchen table, a silence at dinner, the way light falls on a familiar room. Faith and doubt are not debated here so much as lived, breathed, and occasionally broken against. The Reverend Boughton loves his children with a completeness that cannot save them, and that gap — between love and its sufficiency — is where the novel lives. Winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction (now the Women's Prize for Fiction) and the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Home has recently gained further attention with the announcement that Martin Scorsese intends to adapt it as a feature film. It is the kind of book that stays with you not as plot but as atmosphere — as a particular quality of light, and of longing.
This beautiful first printing softcover edition is in fine condition. The pages are tight and appear unread, with some notes on the endpage. The book remains square, clean, and well preserved. Set in Gilead, Iowa, Home follows the Boughton family, centering on Glory Boughton, who returns in her late thirties to care for her aging father, Reverend Robert Boughton. The novel is a moving exploration of human fallibility and the longing for redemption, rendered with Marilynne Robinson’s characteristic depth and quiet beauty.
A HarperCollins Canada first Canadian edition, first printing hardcover in fine condition. Boards are clean, bright, and like-new throughout, with absolutely no wear to the spine, corners, or edges. Dust jacket is bright, crisp, and undamaged, fine in all respects with no tears, chips, fading, or soiling. Pages are fresh and clean throughout, completely free of any marks, stamps, or annotations. Binding is firm and tight. A pristine, essentially unread copy in fine condition throughout. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, Toronto, in 2008, this first Canadian edition, first printing hardcover of Home is the first printing of the Canadian edition of one of the most celebrated American novels of the decade. Winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction (now the Women's Prize for Fiction) and the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and a finalist for the National Book Award, Home is the third novel in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead cycle — companion to Gilead (2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Narrated by Glory Boughton, youngest daughter of the ailing Reverend Robert Boughton, the novel unfolds alongside the events of Gilead as Glory and her prodigal brother Jack return to their childhood home in Iowa, each carrying the weight of lives that have not gone as hoped. A novel of extraordinary stillness, moral precision, and compassion, written by one of the finest prose stylists in contemporary American fiction. Martin Scorsese has announced plans to adapt the novel as a feature film. Ships within Canada. International orders welcome through AbeBooks.
