Gilead

In 1956, an aging Reverend John Ames begins a letter to his young son, chronicling his life and the legacy of his forebears. He recounts the tension between his pacifist father and his abolitionist grandfather, a Union Army chaplain. Ames also reflects on the sacred yet strained bonds between fathers and sons, particularly his relationship with his best friend's wayward son, John Ames Boughton. This novel is a hymn of praise and lamentation for a life lived passionately in faith, as Ames prepares to depart from it.