While the beginning is somewhat slow, when Lila arrives at the town of Gilead, the story becomes very engaging as this feral woman finds herself in love, suddenly, with the older preacher. The tenuousness of their late-life love, for both of them, when they both had become so solitary, is beautifully explored and described. I enjoyed the book so much that I read the preceding book in the trilogy, Gilead, because it is a letter written by the preacher as he approaches death. It occurs later chronologically and I found I could not yet take my leave of these characters. --Suzanne R.