First published 1969
Francis Marion Tarwater stands over his great-uncle's grave, wrestling with a prophecy that marks him as the next prophet in his family line. The old man declared that Tarwater must baptize his cousin Bishop, the intellectually disabled son of schoolteacher Rayber. Tarwater flees to the city, where Rayber attempts to pull him into the rational modern world and away from religious fanaticism. Yet Tarwater cannot escape the voices that call him to fulfill his destiny. As uncle and nephew clash over Bishop's fate, each man fights to claim the boy's soul. Rayber relies on reason and psychology to counter what he sees as dangerous delusion. Tarwater struggles against the faith that burns within him, torn between rejecting his inheritance and accepting his role as prophet. Their battle becomes a war between the sacred and the secular, between ancient calling and modern skepticism, with an innocent child caught between them.
Genres: literary-fiction, christian-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, unreliable-narrator
Setting: The City
Period: 20th Century
244 pages · Hardcover · Faber & Faber
Content warnings: mental-illness