In 1980, Marilynne Robinson published Housekeeping, a precise, affecting novel that earned her a legion of fans. Then, as sometimes happens, she left those fans waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

In 2004, she published Gilead, and she could have been forgiven for taking a hundred years to write it. It verges on perfection. The main character of that novel, John Ames, is a preacher, and as James Wood wrote, "Robinson's words have a spiritual force that's very rare in contemporary fiction."

Well, it turns out her fans won't have to wait as long this time. Her next novel, Home, will be out in September. According to her publisher, the story is directly linked to Gilead. It "transpires concurrently in the same locale, this time in the household of Reverend Robert Boughton, Ames's closest friend."

Speaking of concurrently...given what a perfectionist she seems to be, I have to imagine Robinson wrote these books more or less together over the course of several years. That makes the shared characters, etc., seem much less gimmicky to me, and I'm looking forward to this book more than I can say.