Jesus Saves
, a
New York Times
Notable Book of the Year, is a chilling horror story, a suburban gothic set not among green manicured lawns and cul-de-sacs, but the trash-filled woods between subdivisions and superhighways and the strip malls and duplexes on the back side of town. It’s the story of two girls: Ginger, a troubled minister’s daughter; and Sandy Patrick, who was abducted from summer camp and now smiles from missing-child posters all over town. Layering the dreamscapes of
Alice in Wonderland
with the subculture of
River’s Edge
, Darcey Steinke’s
is an unforgettable passage through the depths of literary imagination.
In her introduction to this new edition, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lydia Millet reflects on the book's long-lasting effect on her and the way she reads while tracing its influence on "subsequent, similarly powerful fictions like Emma Donoghue's
Room
and Barbara Gowdy's
Helpless
." Like
, Millet's introduction is moving and unsettling, and provides the perfect frame for this cult classic.