Jack

John Ames Boughton — the prodigal son of Gilead's Presbyterian minister — falls in love with Della Miles, a Black schoolteacher, in 1950s St. Louis, where an interracial relationship is against the law. Set apart from the other Gilead novels' Iowa setting, the book follows Jack and Della's fragile bond as they struggle against social codes, family expectations, and a legal system built to keep them apart.