Winner of the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award 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
I've suffered one of those looks. I will miss them.' 'A visionary work of dazzling
originality' Robert McCrum Observer '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' Jane
Shilling Sunday Telegraph 'It is difficult not to be awed moved and ultimately humbled'
Neel Mukherjee The Times 'A great work of literature' John de Falbe Daily Telegraph
Chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of the top six novels of the year
