The Lord's Acre

by David Armand

Set in the bucolic town of Angie, Louisiana, The Lord’s Acre tells the story of Eli Woodbine, a young boy who watches helplessly as his fundamentalist parents give in to their increasing sense of desperation and paranoia, living in a world where they can no longer see any hope or reason for existing. When the family is at their absolute lowest, they come across a local, charismatic church leader, in whom they quickly place all of their faith. Yet this man—known to them only as “Father”—is unlike anyone they have ever encountered before. But one day, and with no explanation save for a mysterious gift given to Eli, Father disappears, leaving everything behind him in ruin. Eli and his parents attempt to pick up the pieces, however, as they try to find answers to their new predicament. But their efforts go awry when Eli breaks into an abandoned grocery store one night in order to steal food for his family. He is arrested and taken to jail, where, to his surprise, he is finally able to discover the hope he had always been so desperate to find.

The Sabine Series in Literature

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 13, 2020

About the author

David Armand was born and raised in Louisiana. He has worked as a drywall hanger, a draftsman, and as a press operator in a flag printing factory. From 2017-2019, he served as Writer-in-Residence at Southeastern Louisiana University, where he currently holds the Leola R. Purcell Endowed Professorship in English. In 2010, he won the George Garrett Fiction Prize for his first novel, The Pugilist's Wife, which was published by Texas Review Press. He has since published three more novels, four collections of poetry, and a memoir. His latest book, Mirrors, was recently published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. Armand is also the 2022 recipient of the Louisiana Writer Award, which is presented annually by the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana, which recognizes outstanding contributions to Louisiana’s literary and intellectual life exemplified by a contemporary Louisiana writer’s body of work. Armand's next novel, Walk the Night, is forthcoming from Texas Review Press.

Reviews

[Victor Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Armand hands us the story of Eli, a teenager trapped so much in the religious indoctrination of his home-schooling parents that he constantly questions his worth while the reader yearns to rescue him from his plight. It is that realistic.
With each righteous act or thought of Eli, his mother or father manage to humiliate him and make choices that sets Eli further away from normal family and the sense of self-worth. David Armand's style of writing does not disappoint as we see what Eli sees, hears what he hears, and feels what he feels.
Hope shines for Eli when he finds a pamphlet about a new church just as he and his parents are homeless and destitute. There they receive clothing, food, and a chance to feel value. A place where Christ's love is demonstrated by the charismatic leader, The Father, and his flock.
How do experiences like this truly shape a youth and at what point is that choice made between good and evil? This amazing journey of Eli takes us to the very edge of that choice with unexpected results. This is another great story told so well by David Armand.

[Diane Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Armand's prose is not only deeply compelling, but is deeply haunting. Thirteen-year-old Eli's parents love him in their way, but their way means a life of isolation for Eli, since his father distrusts the government, and a mother who writes poetry one minute, and is enraged at her husband the next, then takes drugs to free herself from her unhappy marriage, and basically leaves Eli to raise himself.

The writing is beautiful, the story is raw, and throughout, the novel is incredibly humane.

[LaShay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is told from the perspective of an adolescent boy, who has fundamentalist parents and isn’t allowed to go to school. The book goes through the main character’s teen years and shows the steps the family took to eventually become part of a cult and then the main character become a thief.
I’ve never read a book so detailed with so little going on. Certain scenes made me feel immersed in them but nothing really happened. It was slow and I wasn’t able to connect with the characters or the story well.