Outer Dark - (Vintage International) by Cormac McCarthy (Paperback)

About the Book

Set in Appalachia around the turn of the century, this evocative novel tells of a woman who bears her brother's child. The father hides the baby in the woods and tells his sister the baby died of natural causes. When she discovers the lie, she sets out to find her son and both parents move headlong toward an apocalyptic resolution. Out of print since 1984.

Book Synopsis

From the bestselling author of The Passenger and the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road - A novel at once fabular and starkly evocative, set is an unspecified place in Appalachia, sometime around the turn of the century.

A woman bears her brother's child, a boy; he leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander separately through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying and elusive strangers, headlong toward an eerie, apocalyptic resolution.

Review Quotes

"He is nothing less than our greatest living writer." --Houston Chronicle

About the Author

The novels of the American writer, Cormac McCarthy, have received a number of literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men--the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. He died in 2023.