Lila

By Marilynne Robinson,

Book cover of Lila

Book description

Lila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a small-town Iowa church-the only available shelter from the rain-and ignites a romance and a debate that will reshape her life. She becomes the wife of a minister and widower, John Ames, and begins a new existence while…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Lila as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

It’s been nine months since I read this book, and my thoughts still return to it (or is it the other way around?) unexpectedly.

On its surface, Lila is the life story of an orphan rescued from a loveless home by a vagrant and her discovery of an unforeseeable future. But this book is poetry in prose, and that surface story is just the start. With its unpredictable time-frames and beautifully complicated characters, it offers insights into the life experiences of societal outcasts with whom most modern readers can scarcely empathize.

Most fascinatingly, its final pages will make many or…

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