A Prayer for Own Meany

“The magic of A Prayer for Owen Meany is that it forces us into a confrontation with our own carapaces of skepticism. . . . It is a brave and subtly disturbing affirmation of faith, and it is all the more remarkable for its engagement with the deepest questions, the most painful mysteries of our lives.” —Los Angeles Times

“A remarkable novel. . . . A rare creation. . . . So extraordinary, so original, and so enriching . . . readers will come to the end feeling sorry to leave [this] richly textured and carefully wrought world.”—Stephen King, Washington Post

“A lavish meditation on predestination, faith, and the unrealized forces that shape one’s days”

—San Francisco Chronicle

In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary.

“It is impossible to imagine the American—or international—literary landscape without John Irving.” —Time

“Among the very best American novels of our time.”—Charlotte Observer