Outer Dark

Outer Dark is a 1968 novel by American author Cormac McCarthy. It tells the story of two siblings, a brother and sister, who engage in an incestuous relationship. Following this transgression, the sister becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child. The brother, consumed by guilt and fear, abandons the infant in the wilderness. He then embarks on a desperate search for the child, encountering a series of grotesque and unsettling characters and events that reflect the novel's dark and violent themes. The narrative explores themes of sin, guilt, and the harsh realities of life in the rural American South.1