Sanctuary

This is the book that put Faulkner on the map back in 1931, 27 years before Lolita was published in the US and put Nabokov in the same public spotlight. In both cases, these writers had produced several great novels prior, but it was their shocking portrayal of a young girl's rape that drew the public's attention.


Set in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Sanctuary follows the story of Horace Benbow after he leaves his wife and step-daughter. He returns to his childhood hometown, and is quickly caught up in a violent underworld of moonshiners, madames, and murder. There is basically no relief in this "potboiler", as Faulkner called it. Everywhere you turn in this book, someone or something is menacing the characters and you spend your time wondering when the whole thing is going to boil over and burn the town, the characters, and maybe you too.


This is a fairly easy-to-read Faulkner, and if you love Faulkner, this is an important part of his oeuvre and worth reading.