Jack by Marilynne Robinson
Barack Obama’s favorite novelist graces us all once again, this time with Jack, which delves back into the inner lives of the characters Robinson introduced many years ago with Gilead. Jack tells the story of the relationship between ne’er-do-well preacher’s son Jack, and Della, the Black woman he loves, and the complications they face in midcentury America’s racist society. Prepare yourself for the tender, stolid prose that characterizes Robinson’s best work—like a perfectly crafted Arts and Crafts–era table, it’s impossibly elegant in its simplicity. — Jess
