Lila - Hardcover

Robinson, Marilynne

3.95

33,283 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844088804 ISBN 13: 9781844088805

Publisher: Virago, 2014

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LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015

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 trying to make sense of the days of suffering that preceded her newfound security.

Neglected as a toddler, Lila was rescued by Doll, a canny young drifter, and brought up by her in a hardscrabble childhood of itinerant work. Together they crafted a life on the run, living hand-to-mouth with nothing but their sisterly bond and a lucky knife to protect them. But despite bouts of petty violence and moments of desperation, their shared life is laced with moments of joy and love. When Lila arrives in Gilead, she struggles to harmonize the life of her makeshift family and their days of hardship with the gentle worldview of her husband which paradoxically judges those she loves.

Revisiting the beloved characters and setting of Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead and Orange Prize-winning Home, Lila is a moving expression of the mysteries of existence.

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Review:

A masterpiece . . . Lila is a superb creation (Publishers Weekly)

One of the greatest living novelists . . . [Lila is] just as wise, moving and genuine as its predecessors (Harper's Bazaar)

Robinson brings [the story] to pulsating life in prose of great and luminous beauty . . . a book that leaves the reader feeling what can only be called exaltation (Neel Mukherjee Independent)

This superb novel can only add to [Robinson's] already stratospherically high reputation (Daily Mail)

Lila is a really beautiful book: beautiful prose, beautiful story; morally beautiful too. After reading it the world seems more dazzling, fuller of wonder and mystery than it did before, as if you were newly in love. I wish I could persuade everyone who ever buys a book to read this one (Cressida Connolly Spectator)

Deeply moving, almost transformative . . . frank and direct, but occasionally moved to ecstasy by the spirit (Sunday Times)

Tinged with heartbreaking beauty (Scotsman)

Although Lila revisits the characters of Robinson's previous books, Gilead, a Pulitzer prizewinner, and Home, a finalist in the American National Book Awards, and brings a certain completeness to their journeys, the book stands well on its own as a powerful search for the meaning of life as well as a touching and unlikely story of love and, ultimately, hope (The Times)

Robinson is a glorious writer . . . This novel, different in tone from its predecessors, stands beautifully alongside them (Claire Messud Financial Times)

There is no one quite like this American writer, or quite as good as her . . . extraordinarily fluent and pitch perfect prose (Tablet)

Book Description:

Marilynne Robinson, one of the greatest novelists of our time, returns to the town of Gilead in an unforgettable story about a girl who lived on the fringes of society in fear, awe, and wonder.

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