Light in August
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Publisher Description
A shocking act of murder and arson in Prohibition-era Mississippi entangles an assortment of memorable misfits in this novel from Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner. With a new introduction by Jay Parini.
Sweet, hopeful Lena Grove has trekked miles on foot in search of the runaway bootlegger who fathered her unborn child. In the town of Jefferson, she finds instead shy and honorable Byron Bunch, who assists Lena in her quest while quietly adoring her. The town’s history-haunted outcasts include disgraced Reverend Gail Hightower, plagued by visions of his Confederate grandfather; Joanna Burden, a despised descendant of abolitionist carpetbaggers; and Joe Christmas, a desperate drifter tormented by his suspected mixed-race ancestry. As these characters converge, Faulkner vividly depicts a world in which no one can escape the weight of the past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Narrator Will Patton delivers a compelling performance in this audio version of Faulkner's classic novel of tangled racial and sexual relations in the American South that traces the stories of pregnant Lena Grove, searching for the father of her unborn child; a bootlegger named Joe Christmas; and the Rev. Gail Hightower. Capturing the spirit of the text, Patton's narration is expertly paced, rich, and hypnotic. He ably handles the tricky cadence of Faulkner's prose and the racial slurs that riddle the story narrating with a honeyed drawl that is undercut by brutal frankness. There are a few moments when Patton overacts and fails to allow the author's words to take center stage. However, Faulkner fans will likely overlook what amounts to a minor flaw in this otherwise enjoyable listen. A Random House /Vintage International paperback.
