Description

Book Synopsis

Set in rural Tennessee between the world wars, The Orchard Keeper is the unique, darkly biblical debut novel from the legendary author of Blood Meridian and The Road, Cormac McCarthy.

'McCarthy has the best kind of Southern style' – New York Times

John Wesley Rattner is a young boy when his father is murdered. Marion Sylder, an outlaw and bootlegger, strangled him to death.

By chance, John and Marion will meet. They will not recognize each other; John will not know what this man has done.

An experimental debut following in the footsteps of William Faulkner, this is a magnificent conjuring of an American landscape – and a devastating portrayal of innocence lost.

Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.

'A complicated and evocative exposition of the transience of life' –

The Orchard Keeper

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    A Paperback by Cormac McCarthy

    £10.44

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    RRP £10.99 – you save £0.55 (5%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Fri 11 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Pan Macmillan
      Published 7 November 2024
      ISBN-13 9781035039067
      978-1035039067
      ISBN-10 1035039060
      Also in:
      Fiction Historical Fiction Books by Cormac McCarthy

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Set in rural Tennessee between the world wars, The Orchard Keeper is the unique, darkly biblical debut novel from the legendary author of Blood Meridian and The Road, Cormac McCarthy.

      'McCarthy has the best kind of Southern style' – New York Times

      John Wesley Rattner is a young boy when his father is murdered. Marion Sylder, an outlaw and bootlegger, strangled him to death.

      By chance, John and Marion will meet. They will not recognize each other; John will not know what this man has done.

      An experimental debut following in the footsteps of William Faulkner, this is a magnificent conjuring of an American landscape – and a devastating portrayal of innocence lost.

      Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.

      'A complicated and evocative exposition of the transience of life' –

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