Light in August

Published in 1932, Light in August is William Faulkner’s seventh novel. The novel is set in the American South during prohibition and features an ensemble cast of characters who grapple with alienation, racism, and heartbreak across a nonlinear narrative. Classified as a Southern gothic and modernist novel, Light in August is considered a seminal work in 20th-century American literature.

Note: This study guide quotes and obscures Faulkner’s use of the n-word.

Plot Summary

Lena Grove, a young pregnant woman, leaves Alabama and heads to Jefferson, Mississippi, where she hopes to find Lucas Burch, the father of her child. Lucas left saying he was going to look for a job but hasn’t reached out in months. Reaching the edge of town, Lena sees a house on fire. She arrives at the mill in town, and Byron Bunch, who is working a shift there, becomes quickly infatuated with her. Lena is disappointed when she learns Byron doesn’t know Lucas Burch. They discuss the fire, which is at the home of Joanna Burden, and Byron mentions that Joe Christmas and Joe Brown—two vagabonds who quit working at the mill around the same time and are rumored to be bootlegging whiskey—live in a cabin on the same property.