In 'Jack,' Marilynne Robinson Shows Grace Is For Everyone

Marilynne Robinson created the Boughton and Ames families of Gilead, Iowa in her 2004 , a lingeringly beautiful epistolary novel in which the aging Reverend John Ames reflects on his life in a letter to his son. Robinson's three subsequent novels — , , and, most recently, , all as transcendently lovely as the first — return to 's world, characters, and plot points, retelling and re-examining each one with lapidary care. Robinson describes herself as a liberal Protestant, and her deep investment in her characters reflects an immense preoccupation with the concept of grace,