October Light

A story of an old man and an old woman—brother and sister—living together on a farm in Vermont.

Library Journal

A story within a story, Gardner's 1976 title finds destitute widow Sally Abbot forced to live with her brother, who, after numerous clashes, locks her in a room with food and a book. The story she reads mimics her own. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

John Gardner (1933-1982) was born in Batavia, New York, the eldest of four children. His father was a dairy farmer and lay preacher in the Presbyterian church, his mother an English teacher in the local schools. At age 12 he accidentally killed his brother Gilbert by running him over with a heavy farm machine (this tragedy surfaced many years later in the short story "Redemption"). He went on to become one of the most provocative and successful American novelists of his generation, garnering critical praise and a popular following for his fiction. Raymond Carver was one of his many successful students. The author of many novels, plays, and transliterations of medieval texts, Gardner also composed operas and librettos, as well as being a painter, he played the French horn. He died in a motorcycle accident in Pennsylvania.