A Prayer for Owen Meany

By John Irving

Categories: Literature & Fiction

A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) is a novel by John Irving set largely in a small New Hampshire town in the 1950s and 1960s. John Wheelwright looks back on his childhood friendship with Owen Meany, a tiny boy with a strange, piercing voice and an unshakable belief that God has a purpose for him. When a foul ball Owen hits at a Little League game kills John's mother, the accident binds the two boys together and sets John on a lifelong search for faith.

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• Andrew Ross Sorkin: “A Prayer for Owen Meany -- my favorite book!”