The Redemption of David Corson

Evening light holds a young Quaker's attention as he stands beside his plow in a wooded Ohio valley. David Corson's community interprets his unusual emotional experiences as visions, an explanation he accepts with confidence. A boy sent to call him home finds amusement in his absorbed stillness. Charles Frederic Goss opens the novel with farm life, spring blossoms and a child's intense response to the beauty of the natural world.

A later scene places that atmosphere of faith beside a troubling conflict of conscience. After a violent confrontation, David reassures Pepeeta while concealing what has happened. Her frightened questions and affectionate trust sharpen the tension in his replies. Religious conviction, romantic attachment and personal responsibility meet in these exchanges, giving the novel both a spiritual and an emotional focus. Readers interested in fiction about the Society of Friends can explore how richly described surroundings and intimate dialogue frame questions of belief, guilt and moral choice.