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 o
f such meditative calm, such spiritual intensity that is seems miraculous that h
er silence was only for 23 years; such measure of wisdom is the fruit of a lifet
ime. Robinson's prose, aligned with the sublime simplicity of the language of th
e bible, is nothing short of a benediction.
You might not share its faith, bu
t it is difficult not to be awed moved and ultimately humbled by the spiritual e
ffulgence that lights up the novel from within' Neel Mukherjee, The Times 'Writi
ng 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 m
ight all go wrong. In Gilead, however, nothing goes wrong' Jane Shilling, Sunday
Telegraph
