THE TEMPLE OF MY FAMILIAR (1989)

 

(OVER FOUR MONTHS A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER)

“The richness of Alice Walker’s new novel is amazing, overwhelming.  A hundred themes and subjects spin through it, dozens of characters, a whirl of time and places.  None is touched superficially; all the people are passionate actors and sufferers, and everything they talk about is urgent, a matter truly of life and death.  They’re like Dostoyevsky’s characters, relentlessly raising the great moral questions and pushing one another towards self-knowledge, honesty, engagement.”

 

Ursula LeGuin, The San Francisco Review of Books

 

Described by the author as “a romance (wisdom tale) of the last 500,000 years,” THE TEMPLE OF MY FAMILIAR unfolds disquieting truths and mysteries; evils that resound through history; and wonders that attain the power of legend.  “Walker holds a rare place...in the history of ... writers....THE TEMPLE OF MY FAMILIAR is brilliant.

 

Essence