First published 2012
Temple Drake Stevens thought she had escaped her violent past. Eight years after the brutal events that nearly destroyed her, she has married Gowan Stevens and built what appears to be a respectable life. But the past refuses to stay buried. When Nancy, the nurse who cares for Temple and Gowan's child, murders the infant, Temple finds herself confronting the consequences of choices she made years ago. As Nancy awaits execution, Temple must decide whether to save the woman who killed her child. The courtroom becomes a stage where Temple's history unfolds, revealing how the violence of her youth continues to shape every relationship she touches. Faulkner tells this story through both traditional narrative and dramatic scenes, creating a trial that examines not just Nancy's guilt, but Temple's own complicity in the tragedy that has consumed her family.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, crime
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
240 pages · Paperback · Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Content warnings: abuse, child-death, domestic-violence, violence