by Brad Gooch
First published 2009
Brad Gooch reconstructs the life of Flannery O'Connor, the Georgia writer who transformed American fiction with her darkly comic novels and stories. O'Connor published her first book, Wise Blood, in 1952 and quickly established herself as a fierce literary voice. Gooch draws on newly available correspondence between O'Connor and Betty Hester, previously known only as "A" in O'Connor's collected letters. The biography reveals O'Connor's significant friendships with writers like Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Hardwick, Walker Percy, and James Dickey. It explores her theological convictions through her exchanges with Thomas Merton and Elizabeth Bishop. Gooch shows how O'Connor maintained her creative vitality despite the chronic disease that eventually confined her to her mother's Georgia farm. The book illuminates her capacity to live fully while grappling with questions of race, religion, and the mystery of divine grace in her work.
Genres: biography, literary-fiction, christian, christian-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, american
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, literary
Setting: Georgia
Period: 20th Century
464 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company