A Handbook of American Prayer

Paperback, 282 pages

Published 2011 by Concord Free Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-9817824-8-5

(1 review)

A man walks into a bar; a dispute ensues, and the bartender kills him. The bartender is sentenced to ten years for manslaughter.

While in prison, the bartender writes prayers addressed to no particular God. His prayers, whether a request for a girlfriend or a special favour for a fellow inmate, are always answered.

When his collection of supplications ('A Handbook of American Prayer') is published, the bartender emerges from prison a celebrity author.

In this story about America's conflicting love triangle (celebrity, spirituality, money) Shepard negotiates the thin line between the real and the surreal, expounding upon violence and redemption along the way. This story of an unlikely American messiah shows why 'The Wall Street Journal' has compared Shepard to Graham Greene, Robert Stone, and Ward Just.

8 editions

Will Sargent reviewed A Handbook of American Prayer by Lucius Shepard

Review of 'A Handbook of American Prayer' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

This book feels like something Bill Hicks would write, with its veiny back-America -- the malls, the ex-cons, the rusted automobile wrecks, and the television showing a world that tells you that your world isn't real. And then, a prayer that isn't a prayer results in a man showing up who is either a deluded fan, or something outside of reality.

This book haunted me for weeks afterwards.