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The Gospel Singer

by Harry Crews

Fame and faith in Enigma, Georgia

Regular price $16.48 USD
Regular price $27.47 USD Sale price $16.48 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praise from Carl Hiaasen

    Carl Hiaasen praises the book as “magnificently twisted and brutally funny.”

AlbakiReads Editorial

Fame and faith in Enigma, Georgia

A celebrated gospel singer returns to his hometown of Enigma, Georgia, where his public image as a healer meets the private torment driving him home. An old friend’s danger amid a lynch mob brings the singer into a community already gathered around him as a religious figure. The novel’s central tension lies in the gap between that image and the harm he has helped cause among his followers. Its small-town setting connects celebrity, belief, and responsibility, while the singer’s return brings those conflicts into view.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in classic fiction centered on faith and public reputation.
  • Readers drawn to small-town stories involving community conflict and moral responsibility.

Themes

Faith and public imageCelebrityCommunity conflictMoral responsibility

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"Harry Crews is magnificently twisted and brutally funny." - Carl Hiaasen

A Penguin Classic


Golden-haired, with the voice of an angel and a reputation as a healer, the Gospel Singer appeared on the cover of LIFE and brought thousands to their knees in Carnegie Hall. But for all his fame, he is a man in mortal torment that drives him back to his obscure and wretched hometown of Enigma, Georgia. But by the time his Cadillac pulls into Enigma, he discovers an old friend is being held at tenuous bay from a lynch mob. As Harry Crews's first novel unfolds, the Gospel Singer is forced to give way to his torment, and in doing so he reveals to the believers who have gathered at his feet just how little he is God's man, and how much he has contributed to the corruption of each of them.
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