Flannery O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel is a classic of twentieth-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a ''blind'' street preacher named Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawks, Hazel founds The Church of God Without Christ, but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God. He meets Enoch Emery, a young man with ''wise blood,'' who leads him to a mummified holy child, and whose crazy maneuvers are a manifestation of Hazel's existential struggles. This tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindness, and wisdom gives us one of the most riveting characters in American fiction.

弗蘭納裏•奧康納（Flannery O'Connor）（1925-1964），是與麥卡勒斯齊名的美國天纔女作傢，被譽為“南方的文學先知”。她39歲時死於紅斑狼瘡，美國評論界稱她的早逝是“自斯科特•菲茨傑拉爾德去世以來美國文壇最重大的損失”。 2009年，弗蘭納裏•奧康納小說全集獲得美國國傢圖書奬60年唯一的最佳小說奬。

奧康納被公認為是繼福剋納之後美國南方最傑齣的作傢，在世界文學中影響巨大，伊麗莎白•畢曉普稱“她的作品比十幾部詩集有更多的真正的詩意”。雷濛德•卡佛的寫作曾受過她的影響，米蘭•昆德拉、大江健三郎多次引用其作品內容。中國作傢馬原對奧康納推崇備至，稱之為“邪惡的奧康納”，認為“奧康納要是不做小說傢，真是天理都不容。”

奧康納風格怪誕，獨樹一幟。她擅長描寫南方鄉村人物生活，對人性陰暗有著驚人的洞察，故事詭譎、恐怖、陰鬱到令人窒息，語言精準有力，常常在看似輕鬆幽默中抵達不測之深。

新星齣版社這次將集中翻譯齣版弗蘭納裏•奧康納的全部主要作品，包括《好人難尋》《智血》《暴力奪取》《上升的必將匯閤》《生存的習慣》五本，將在2010年齣齊。