Marilynne Robinson's recent book Gilead wears its acclaim and awards like a hairshirt, but it's her earlier novel Housekeeping that mesmerized me. The story of two girls and a nearby lake that seems to swallow everyone they love is a rich show-stopper of style and insight. This blurb doesn't do it justice. That a friend forced the book on me, and now I've forced it on friends, says it better.