The Gardener’s Son (screenplay)

A taut, riveting drama from legendary author Cormac McCarthy, The Gardener’s Son is a tale of two families in post-Civil War South Carolina: one, owners of the local cotton mill, the other a family of mill workers beset by misfortune.

‘[A] memorable portrait of another place in another time’ – New York Times

Two years ago, Robert McEvoy was involved in an accident that led to the amputation of his leg. Consumed by bitterness and anger, he quit his job at the mill and fled. Now, news of his mother’s terminal illness brings Robert home. What he finds on his return stokes the slow-burning rage he carries within him – a fury that may consume him . . .

This taut, riveting drama was Cormac McCarthy’s first written screenplay. Directed by Richard Pearce, it was produced as a two-hour film in 1976 for the PBS series Visions.

Praise for Cormac McCarthy, author of The Road and No Country for Old Men:

‘McCarthy worked close to some religious impulse, his books were terrifying and absolute’ – Anne Enright, author of The Green Road

‘His prose takes on an almost biblical quality, hallucinatory in its effect and evangelical in its power’ – Stephen King, author of the Dark Tower series

‘[I]n presenting the darker human impulses in his rich prose, [McCarthy] showed readers the necessity of facing up to existence’ – Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback Mountain