Virago to publish new Gilead series book

Virago announced the release date for Jack by Marilynne Robinson, the fourth instalment in the Gilead series, on 15th September 2020.

The book will be published by Virago in the UK in conjunction with Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US and McClelland & Stewart in Canada.

Virago previously bought the book’s rights in 2018 from Claire Roberts on behalf of Ellen Levine at Trident Media. 

The synopsys reads: "Jack tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the beloved and grieved-over prodigal son of a Presbyterian minister in Gilead, Iowa, a drunkard and a ne'er-do-well. In segregated St. Louis sometime after World War II, Jack falls in love with Della Miles, an African-American high school teacher, also a preacher's child, with a discriminating mind, a generous spirit, and an independent will. Their fraught, beautiful story is one of Robinson's greatest achievements."

Virago chair Lennie Goodings added: "I know, like me, thousands of Marilynne Robinson’s devoted readers have been hoping that she would return to these novels and our hopes are rewarded. Never has Marilynne Robinson’s compassion, wisdom and wit been so beautifully employed as when she is telling us the story of this much-loved but wayward son. She is truly one of America’s—and indeed the world’s—greatest writers and thinkers."