&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:The_Gardener%27s_Son_Cover.jpg) First edition hardcover | |
| Author | Cormac McCarthy |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Michael Ian Kaye |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Publisher | Ecco Press |
Publication date | September 1996 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 93 |
| ISBN | 0-88001-481-4 |
| 791.43/72 | |
| LC Class | PN1997 .G3194 1996 |
The Gardener's Son: A Screenplay is the print screenplay for the 1977 television film of the same name, written by Cormac McCarthy. The book was first published in September 1996 by Ecco Press. Based on an 1876 murder case in the mill town of Graniteville, South Carolina, the story follows Robert McEvoy—an embittered young man whose father works as a gardener for the mill-owning Gregg family—as a chain of events lead to his killing of James Gregg and an ensuing trial.
The film premiered on PBS stations on January 6, 1977, as the twelfth entry in the anthology series Visions. The published edition of the screenplay differs from the shooting script and the finished film. Although the film was well-reviewed, the screenplay garnered little notice upon its release. Nonetheless, The Gardener's Son is more often read as a closet drama than viewed as a film because of its scarcity on home video. McCarthy scholars generally regard it as a minor work in his bibliography.