In 1956 toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life he begins a letter to his young son a kind of last testament to his remarkable forebears. ' It is a book of such meditative calm such spiritual intensity that is seems miraculous that her silence was only for 23 years; such measure of wisdom is the fruit of a lifetime. Robinson's prose aligned with the sublime simplicity of the language of the bible is nothing short of a benediction. You might not share its faith but it is difficult not to be awed moved & ultimately humbled by the spiritual effulgence that lights up the novel from within' Neel Mukherjee The Times ' Writing of this quality with an authority as unforced as the perfect pitch in music is rare & carries with it a sense almost of danger
- that at any moment it might all go wrong. In Gilead however nothing goes wrong' Jane Shilling Sunday Telegraph