The Gardener's Son

The first screenplay by Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Road

From the legendary Cormac McCarthy, author of Blood Meridian and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, The Gardener's Son is the tale of two families: one, owners of the local cotton mill, the other a family of mill workers beset by misfortune.

'[A] memorable portrait of another place in another time' – New York Times

Two years ago, Robert McEvoy was involved in an accident that led to the amputation of his leg. Consumed by bitterness and anger, he quit his job at the mill and fled. Now, news of his mother's terminal illness brings Robert home. What he finds on his return stokes the slow-burning rage he carries within him – a fury that may consume him . . .

This taut, riveting drama was Cormac McCarthy's first written screenplay. Directed by Richard Pearce, it was produced as a two-hour film in 1976 for the PBS series Visions.

Praise for Cormac McCarthy:

‘McCarthy worked close to some religious impulse, his books were terrifying and absolute’ – Anne Enright, author of The Green Road and The Wren, The Wren

'His prose takes on an almost biblical quality, hallucinatory in its effect and evangelical in its power' – Stephen King, author of The Shining and the Dark Tower series

'[I]n presenting the darker human impulses in his rich prose, [McCarthy] showed readers the necessity of facing up to existence' – Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback Mountain