Books

New York: Random House, 1973. First Edition. Octavo. 197 pp. Printed dust jacket with $5.95 price intact. Red and blue boards with spine stamped in gilt. Dust jacket worn and creased along edges with toning and a few tears at edges and spine ends. Boards shelfworn and binding is sound. Spot to top edge, possibly a remainder mark, and pages otherwise unmarked. Very Good.

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.