Books

New York: Random House, 1973. First Edition. 197 pp. Hardcover: NEAR FINE. Dust Wrapper: NEAR FINE. This near fine book is crisp, tight binding and is free of marks or inscriptions. Mild rubbing to the top edge, with modest foxing to top of text block. Price-clipped wrapper is bright, with little toning. The story of Lester Ballard, isolated in the hills of Tennessee, and his accompanying moral isolation manifested in his depravity and penchant for violence. A very attractive copy of the third novel by one of the most important American writers of the past 100 years.

Cormac McCarthy's 'Child of God' tells the story of Lester Ballard, a dispossessed, violent man whose life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order. McCarthy depicts the life of a violent young outcast and serial killer in 1960s Appalachian Tennessee. Though the narrative is stark, the protagonist's isolation and disaffection are depicted with empathy by McCarthy, whose prose reveals the layers of humanity in even the most desolate and detestable characters.