Flannery O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel is a classic of twentieth-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a ''blind'' street preacher named Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawks, Hazel founds The Church of God Without Christ, but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God. He meets Enoch Emery, a young man with ''wise blood,'' who leads him to a mummified holy child, and whose crazy maneuvers are a manifestation of Hazel's existential struggles. This tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindness, and wisdom gives us one of the most riveting characters in American fiction.

弗兰纳里•奥康纳（Flannery O'Connor）（1925-1964）,是与麦卡勒斯齐名的美国天才女作家,被誉为“南方的文学先知”。她39岁时死于红斑狼疮,美国评论界称她的早逝是“自斯科特•菲茨杰拉尔德去世以来美国文坛最重大的损失”。 2009年,弗兰纳里•奥康纳小说全集获得美国国家图书奖60年唯一的最佳小说奖。

奥康纳被公认为是继福克纳之后美国南方最杰出的作家,在世界文学中影响巨大,伊丽莎白•毕晓普称“她的作品比十几部诗集有更多的真正的诗意”。雷蒙德•卡佛的写作曾受过她的影响,米兰•昆德拉、大江健三郎多次引用其作品内容。中国作家马原对奥康纳推崇备至,称之为“邪恶的奥康纳”,认为“奥康纳要是不做小说家,真是天理都不容。”

奥康纳风格怪诞,独树一帜。她擅长描写南方乡村人物生活,对人性阴暗有着惊人的洞察,故事诡谲、恐怖、阴郁到令人窒息,语言精准有力,常常在看似轻松幽默中抵达不测之深。

新星出版社这次将集中翻译出版弗兰纳里•奥康纳的全部主要作品,包括《好人难寻》《智血》《暴力夺取》《上升的必将汇合》《生存的习惯》五本,将在2010年出齐。