Why am I passionate about this?
I’m a novelist, essayist, and journalist who’s written extensively about the problems and consolations of faith, about belonging in and out of faith, and about the tribes of what I think of as the In Between. When you’re in between, you’re neither in it nor out of it, whatever “it” might be for you. You bear an “infinity of traces,” as the writer Antonio Gramsci called these formative influences. My first novel looks at these influences directly, while my second one looks at them indirectly. I’m late in the game with a third novel now—a detective story that investigates a murder along with these same themes.
Ryan's book list on those in search of faith
Why did Ryan love this book?
Robinson’s long-awaited second novel arrived in the foursquare voice of a late-in-life preacher—and was instantly unforgettable. The Rev. John Ames is writing a series of letters to the son he won’t live long enough to know as an adult.
A novel of almost sneaky power and warmth, Gilead is remarkable, too, for its unmixed praise of the devotional life.
5 authors picked Gilead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION and THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK
In 1956, towards the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son: 'I told you last night that I might be gone sometime . . . You reached up and put your fingers on my lips and gave me that look I never in my life saw on any other face besides your mother's. It's a kind of furious pride, very passionate and stern. I'm always a little surprised to find my eyebrows unsinged after…
- Coming soon!