by JohnUpdike (Author)
One hot afternoon in 1910, the Reverend Clarence Wilmot, standing in the rectory of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, experiences the last vestiges of his faith departing. True to this revelation, Clarence abandons the pulpit and becomes an encyclopedia salesman. What follows is the saga of the Wilmot family, one wandering tapestry thread within the American century. This is the story of Clarence's postman son, of his granddaughter, Esther, whose prayers are always answered and who becomes a twentieth century goddess, and of her son, in whom the passion that has long simmered, hidden in the corners of American life, comes to a boil.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 512
Edition: New Ed
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 24 Apr 1997
ISBN 10: 0140255893
ISBN 13: 9780140255898
Book Overview: The author has been awarded the Howells Medal by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.