Light in August Book Summary

A Brief Overview:

• Light in August by William Faulkner’s central concern is with the relationship between a man's social role and private being. The story is set in a small fictional town with a planning mill – Jefferson and is based on two strangers who arrive at the town at different times.

Lena Grove Arrival in Jefferson 

The novel starts with Lena Grove – a pregnant teenager, on her way to Mississippi in quest of her baby's father. She catches a ride to Jefferson. 

When Lena Grove unexpectedly appears at the mill one day, a mill worker, Byron Bunch, becomes attracted and unsettled. He tells the town's discredited former preacher – Reverend Gail Hightower, about his feelings. Soon, Lena realises that the man she seeks—her baby's father, Lucas Burch—is actually Joe Brown. 

The Story Takes a New Turn

Next, the story shifts to Joe Christmas, one of the mill's workers. He is a moody, racially ambiguous man who showed up unexpectedly one day looking for work. After getting employment, he was quickly joined at the mill by Joe Brown. The two created a partnership to make and sell spirits illegally.

A Look into Past Traumas

The story then switches to look at some of the individuals' pasts. Gail Hightower, a young pastor is forced to resign after a scandal ensues when Hightower's young wife sleeps with another man and dies. 

Joe Christmas was abandoned as a child and adopted later by a strict religious man – Mr. McEachern. He routinely beats him. As Joe matures and enters adolescence, he meets Bobbie, a prostitute. When Mr. McEachern discovers this, a struggle ensues, leading Joe to kill his foster father. Post this, he leads a life on the run, until he arrives in Jefferson.

The Fate and Fight between Joanna Burden and Joe Christmas 

Christmas stays in Joanna Burden's cabin in Jefferson. And, we witness the two quickly developing feelings for each other. Miss Burden wants a child and claims to be pregnant, but Christmas is adamantly opposed to it. 

Joe Brown eventually moves into Joe Christmas' cabin and starts living there. Miss Burden tries to help Christmas financially, but her meddling only irritates him. One night, he violently assaults and kills her with a razor after she attempts to discharge a pistol at him in an apparent murder-suicide.

Joe Christmas Faces the Reality

Christmas has evaded capture for days, racing to the point of hunger and fatigue. However, soon he gets arrested on the streets of adjacent Mottstown. Uncle Doc Hines, Joe's biological maternal grandpa, makes his way through the crowd, cursing and calling for his death. When Jefferson officials arrive to take care of the prisoner, Mrs. Hines breaks through the crowd, eager to glimpse the face of the grandson.

Lena’s Labour and Joe Brown Faces the Truth

Lena goes into labour, but by the time Byron arrives, Hightower has already delivered the baby. Byron arranges for Joe Brown to be dispatched to Lena's cabin; when he arrives, Brown is surprised to see Lena carrying his new-born boy and flees via a back window. 

Tragic End of Joe Christmas

Meanwhile, Joe Christmas escapes from his captors while being led across the town centre. A bounty hunter named Percy Grimm eventually finds him and shoots him.

An Unfinished Ending

The story ends after a road trip when a local furniture mover near Jefferson tells his wife how he provided a lift to an unusual couple—a woman with a new-born child and a man who was not the baby's father. As the driver drove them deeper into Tennessee, the couple, Lena and Byron, searched half-heartedly for the baby's biological father.