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Lila

On sale

6th August 2020

Price: £9.99

International Dublin Literary Award, 2016

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781844088829

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WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

AN OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK

Lila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a small-town Iowa church – the
only available shelter from the rain – and ignites a romance and a debate that will reshape her life.

‘One of the greatest living novelists’ BRYAN APPLEYARD, SUNDAY TIMES

‘Robinson is frequently named as one of America’s most significant writers . . . Her questioning books express wonder: they are enlightening, in the best sense, passionately contesting our facile, recycled understanding of ourselves and of our world’ SARAH CHURCHWELL, GUARDIAN

‘The work of an exceptional novelist’ ROWAN WILLIAMS, NEW STATESMAN

‘A sumptuous, graceful and ultimately life-affirming novel’ JAMES KIDD, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

‘Great and luminous beauty . . . a book that leaves the reader feeling what can only be called exaltation’ NEEL MUKHERJEE, INDEPENDENT

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Reviews

Maggie Fergusson, Intelligent Life (The Economist)
Robinson explores eternity, and she does so in a quiet, ruminative style that takes over your heart as well as your head. Once you've fallen under her spell, she's not just mesmerising but indispensable
Scotland on Sunday
Told with measured and absorbing elegance, this account of the growing love and trust between Lila and Reverend Ames is touching and convincing.
Harper's Bazaar
One of the greatest living novelists . . . [Lila is] just as wise, moving and genuine as its predecessors
Stylist
Lila has a power beyond words
Sarah Churchwell, Guardian
Her questioning books express wonder: they are enlightening, in the best sense, passionately contesting our facile, recycled understanding of ourselves and of our world
Neel Mukherjee, Independent
Robinson brings [the story] to pulsating life in prose of great and luminous beauty . . . a book that leaves the reader feeling what can only be called exaltation
Literary Review
Measured and lyrical; the sound of this book is akin at times to the Cormac McCarthy of The Road . . . Robinson writes brilliantly about the way people dance warily around each other, never quite coinciding, stricken with longing and love
Sarah Franklin, Sunday Express
The Gilead novels provide insights into a people whose fates are bound to the land they live on. Iowa must be proud to have such a chronicler among them
Harper's Bazaar
One of the greatest living novelists . . . [Lila is] just as wise, moving and genuine as its predecessors
Sarah Churchwell, Guardian
Her questioning books express wonder: they are enlightening, in the best sense, passionately contesting our facile, recycled understanding of ourselves and of our world
Publishers Weekly
A masterpiece . . . Lila is a superb creation
James Kidd, Independent on Sunday
A sumptuous, graceful, and ultimately life-affirming novel
Cressida Connolly, Spectator
Lila is a really beautiful book: beautiful prose, beautiful story; morally beautiful too. After reading it the world seems more dazzling, fuller of wonder and mystery than it did before, as if you were newly in love. I wish I could persuade everyone who ever buys a book to read this one
William Leith, Evening Standard
Intricate and beautiful
The Times
Although Lila revisits the characters of Robinson's previous books, Gilead, a Pulitzer prizewinner, and Home, a finalist in the American National Book Awards, and brings a certain completeness to their journeys, the book stands well on its own as a powerful search for the meaning of life as well as a touching and unlikely story of love and, ultimately, hope
Scotland on Sunday
Told with measured and absorbing elegance, this account of the growing love and trust between Lila and Reverend Ames is touching and convincing.
William Leith, Evening Standard
Intricate and beautiful
Alan Spence, Herald
The novel of the year for me was Lila by Marilynne Robinson, revisiting the fictional Gilead of her three previous novels. The prose, as always, is magnificent, pitch-perfect, carrying a moral authority, a gravitas and a spiritual depth. There really is nobody else writing like this
Neel Mukherjee, Independent
Robinson brings [the story] to pulsating life in prose of great and luminous beauty . . . a book that leaves the reader feeling what can only be called exaltation
Stylist
Lila has a power beyond words
Prospect
Robinson's writing can light up consciousness, and make even the most passing thoughts feel indelible. Her older sister in American literature is Emily Dickinson
Claire Messud, Financial Times
Robinson is a glorious writer . . . This novel, different in tone from its predecessors, stands beautifully alongside them
List
Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence and love
Naomi Alderman, Observer
Exquisitely observed, an ultimately optimistic journey through the corrosive power of shame to divide and distort
Amma Asante, Observer
The giant themes and big questions that sit beneath the surface of Lila's incredibly moving story are compelling
Mail on Sunday
Mesmerising . . . reminiscent of the great Victorian novelists . . . Robinson's exquisitely wrought prose resonates
Robert McCrum, Observer
Lila by Marilynne Robinson is the heartbreaking conclusion to her Gilead trilogy
Salley Vickers, Observer
My novel of the year can only be Lila by the inimitable Marilynne Robinson . . .my favourite living author and this once again demonstrates her remarkable gift for psychological depth
Herald
As a reader you feel very well looked after by Marilynne Robinson: you are knocked out by the weight of thought, the care, the worry she puts into her work. You find yourself wandering into vast new rooms, as if you're in a fabulous museum you've dreamt up for your own pleasure. There's really no one else writing like this today . . . Lila is just so damnably beautiful
Literary Review
Measured and lyrical; the sound of this book is akin at times to the Cormac McCarthy of The Road . . . Robinson writes brilliantly about the way people dance warily around each other, never quite coinciding, stricken with longing and love
Sarah Franklin, Sunday Express
The Gilead novels provide insights into a people whose fates are bound to the land they live on. Iowa must be proud to have such a chronicler among them
The Times
Although Lila revisits the characters of Robinson's previous books, Gilead, a Pulitzer prizewinner, and Home, a finalist in the American National Book Awards, and brings a certain completeness to their journeys, the book stands well on its own as a powerful search for the meaning of life as well as a touching and unlikely story of love and, ultimately, hope
Herald
As a reader you feel very well looked after by Marilynne Robinson: you are knocked out by the weight of thought, the care, the worry she puts into her work. You find yourself wandering into vast new rooms, as if you're in a fabulous museum you've dreamt up for your own pleasure. There's really no one else writing like this today . . . Lila is just so damnably beautiful
List
Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence, love and the inevitability of loneliness. And although enriched by the two preceding books, it has the strength, beauty and originality to be read, enjoyed and appreciated as a standalone work. Written in beautiful, poetic prose, it's a remarkable achievement
Rowan Williams, New Statesman
This third novel in the sequence is, in many ways, the most adventurous of all . . . Lila is the work of an exceptional novelist at the peak of her capacity
Todd McEwen, Sunday Herald
Lila was the book of books this year, an amazing achievement
Maggie Fergusson, Intelligent Life (The Economist)
Robinson explores eternity, and she does so in a quiet, ruminative style that takes over your heart as well as your head. Once you've fallen under her spell, she's not just mesmerising but indispensable
James Kidd, Independent on Sunday
A sumptuous, graceful, and ultimately life-affirming novel
Sunday Times
Deeply moving, almost transformative . . . frank and direct, but occasionally moved to ecstasy by the spirit
Tablet
There is no one quite like this American writer, or quite as good as her . . . extraordinarily fluent and pitch perfect prose
Daily Telegraph
Searching and full of grace
List
Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence and love
The Economist
One of the finest writers in America
Alan Spence, Herald
The novel of the year for me was Lila by Marilynne Robinson, revisiting the fictional Gilead of her three previous novels. The prose, as always, is magnificent, pitch-perfect, carrying a moral authority, a gravitas and a spiritual depth. There really is nobody else writing like this
Observer
Robinson has made a world so palpable and full that each book can stand alone...Taken together, these books will surely be known as one of the great achievements of contemporary literature
Independent
Robinson writes beautifully and, as a sophisticated religious thinker, asks searching questions about faith and doubt
Todd McEwen, Sunday Herald
Lila was the book of books this year, an amazing achievement
Amma Asante, Observer
The giant themes and big questions that sit beneath the surface of Lila's incredibly moving story are compelling
Publishers Weekly
A masterpiece . . . Lila is a superb creation
Rowan Williams, New Statesman
This third novel in the sequence is, in many ways, the most adventurous of all . . . Lila is the work of an exceptional novelist at the peak of her capacity
Salley Vickers, Observer
My novel of the year can only be Lila by the inimitable Marilynne Robinson . . .my favourite living author and this once again demonstrates her remarkable gift for psychological depth
Cressida Connolly, Spectator
Lila is a really beautiful book: beautiful prose, beautiful story; morally beautiful too. After reading it the world seems more dazzling, fuller of wonder and mystery than it did before, as if you were newly in love. I wish I could persuade everyone who ever buys a book to read this one
Robert McCrum, Observer
Lila by Marilynne Robinson is the heartbreaking conclusion to her Gilead trilogy
Observer
Robinson has made a world so palpable and full that each book can stand alone...Taken together, these books will surely be known as one of the great achievements of contemporary literature
Joan Bakewell, New Statesman
Subtle shifts of loyalties, strange moral priorities make [Robinson's] books compellingly powerful
Prospect
Robinson's writing can light up consciousness, and make even the most passing thoughts feel indelible. Her older sister in American literature is Emily Dickinson
Tablet
There is no one quite like this American writer, or quite as good as her . . . extraordinarily fluent and pitch perfect prose
Joan Bakewell, New Statesman
Subtle shifts of loyalties, strange moral priorities make [Robinson's] books compellingly powerful
Scotsman
Tinged with heartbreaking beauty
Sunday Times
Deeply moving, almost transformative . . . frank and direct, but occasionally moved to ecstasy by the spirit
Claire Messud, Financial Times
Robinson is a glorious writer . . . This novel, different in tone from its predecessors, stands beautifully alongside them
List
Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence, love and the inevitability of loneliness. And although enriched by the two preceding books, it has the strength, beauty and originality to be read, enjoyed and appreciated as a standalone work. Written in beautiful, poetic prose, it's a remarkable achievement
Naomi Alderman, Observer
Exquisitely observed, an ultimately optimistic journey through the corrosive power of shame to divide and distort
Independent
Robinson writes beautifully and, as a sophisticated religious thinker, asks searching questions about faith and doubt
Mail on Sunday
Mesmerising . . . reminiscent of the great Victorian novelists . . . Robinson's exquisitely wrought prose resonates
The Economist
One of the finest writers in America
Daily Mail
This superb novel can only add to [Robinson's] already stratospherically high reputation
Scotsman
Tinged with heartbreaking beauty
Daily Telegraph
Searching and full of grace
Daily Mail
This superb novel can only add to [Robinson's] already stratospherically high reputation