Books

New York: Random House, 1973. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good +. First printing, octavo size, 205 pp., signed by Cormac McCarthy. Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., in 1933), is acknowledged by many as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. His first novel, "The Orchard Keeper", won a 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel; "All the Pretty Horses" would win the National Book Award in 1992, and "No Country for Old Men", conceived as a screen play (and later turned into a novel) won four Academy Awards. He would eventually author twelve novels, three short stories, five screenplays and two plays. This work, "Child of God" was McCarthy's third novel and was published to critical praise. As stated in the New York Times book review (dated 12-5-73): "It's interesting to see how a good writer can make us care about a 'bad' character. I mean bad in a moral sense. Talent, [it] seems, can find the humanity behind…

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.

First editions of 'Child of God' published by Random House typically have the full number line present which includes '2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3', as Random House did not include '1' in their number line for first editions during that period.