Jesus Saves

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 Jesus Saves 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 Jesus Saves, Millet’s introduction is moving and unsettling, and provides the perfect frame for this cult classic.