US National Book Award Finalist. Set in Wisconsin, just after the Civil War. Slowly events reveal themselves as sinister and bloom gently into a shared nightmare, as one neighbour after another succumbs to a creeping, always fatal disease. Jacob Hansen the sheriff, undertake and pastor must find a humane way to save those he loves as the disease engulfs his town, breeding hysteria. A Prayer for the Dying is a rare and scary book, Steward O'Nan's most astounding achievement yet.