First published 1970
In 1937 New Orleans, a man abandons everything to run away with another man's wife into the wilderness. Their desperate flight from respectability becomes a dangerous journey into forbidden territory. Ten years earlier in Mississippi, a convict faces a choice during a massive flood. He can escape to freedom or risk his life to save a pregnant woman stranded in the rising waters. He chooses rescue over liberty, setting out across the treacherous river. Faulkner weaves these two stories together, showing how both men confront impossible decisions. One flees toward passion, the other toward sacrifice. The flooded Mississippi landscape becomes as dangerous as the moral terrain both men must navigate. Each story illuminates the other as both men face the consequences of their choices in a country where nature and human desire collide with equal force.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: impossible-choice, moral-ambiguity
Setting: Mississippi, New Orleans
Period: 1937
239 pages · Paperback · Penguin