Gilead

"Grace is not so poor a thing that it cannot present itself in any number of ways", Ames tells of his son; the same can be said of this book, one of the best American novels in recent memory, so replete with grace that almost anyone should find a balm in Gilead

Times Literary Supplement

Writing 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

Sunday Telegraph

The slow pulse of Robinson's writing slows the reader's eye and mind, and creates in the reading process a literary version of the narrator's spiritual experience. Gilead reminds us that words have power to spare, to forgive, to do justice

Independent

A novel as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering

Kirkus Reviews

Her poetic, almost biblical style of writing... flows like clear cold water and is full of quiet power while remaining oddly conversational... People say they love these books, and I can see why. Quite how they can do so without discerning within them a serious, deep, patient but modest defence of the Christian proposition, I do not know

Mail Online

It is a book of such meditative calm, such spiritual intensity that it seems miraculous that her silence was only for 23 years; such measure of wisdom is the fruit of a lifetime. Robinson's prose, aligned with the sublime simplicity of the language of the bible, is nothing short of a benediction. You might not share its faith, but it is difficult not to be awed, moved and ultimately humbled by the spiritual effulgence that lights up the novel from within

The Times

Gilead is Marilynne Robinson's first novel since her highly acclaimed debut, Housekeeping, 24 years ago, and its measured prose manifests a spiritual power that well rewards the wait

Daily Mail

Rapturous... astonishing... Gilead is an inspired work from a writer whose sensibility seems steeped in holy fire

Elle

So serenely beautiful and written in a prose so gravely measured and thoughtful, that one feels touched with grace just to read it

Washington Post

Poignant, absorbing, lyrical... Robinson manages to convey the miracle of existence itself

Los Angeles Times

Gilead is a refuge for readers longing for that increasingly rare work of fiction, one that explores big ideas while telling a good story

San Francisco Chronicle

Gilead is no less a masterpiece than Housekeeping

Sunday Times

Stunning... there are gems on every page of Gilead, but it is the whole construction that marks it as a great work

Daily Telegraph

The slow pulse of Robinson's writing slows the reader's eye and mind, and creates in the reading process a literary version of the narrator's spiritual experience. Gilead reminds us that words have power to spare, to forgive, to do justice

Independent

A novel as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering.

Kirkus Review