Books

Octavo, 197pp. A very good, crisp copy in the publisher's red boards with deep navy (almost black) spine. Spine gently cocked, a few faint droplet stins to the top edge, and another mild stain to the fore-edge. In a nicer than usual example of the dust jacket, price-clipped, with a flattened crease to the front flap and some shallow wear to the crown, and one short tear, but the spine fresh and unfaded; near fine. McCarthy's deeply disturbing third novel tells the story of Lester Ballard, a violent loner who lives in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. A typical example of McCarthy's early work, the novel was praised by critics, but sold poorly, and was largely forgotten until McCarthy found popular success in the early 1990s with the Border Trilogy.

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.