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