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The Living god
The Living god by Sam Heaps is a temporal wake of trauma that refuses to relocate.
Told over 24 hours outside Whitehall, Montana, The Living god follows baby, the young lover of aging prophetess Elaina, and Jesse, the father of Elaina's toddler messiah, as they struggle in exile after a catastrophe in their religious community. When baby miscarries Jesse's child, their futures are thrown into turmoil, forcing the couple to face the violent desires that have motivated their lives. Its core question-How can a community be something other than a unit of exclusion?-is both call and echo.
Thematically linked to Women Talking by Miriam Toews, and stylistically reminiscent of Christine Schutt's Nightwork, The Living god embodies what literature must do if it is meant to change us-ask us to reframe our relationship to ourselves and the broken belief systems that no longer serve us.
"The Living god is a beautifully brutal story about loss-of faith, love, and family-but it's also a novel about the very nature of storytelling, and the ways language itself fails us. Sam Heaps is a stunning, tremendous talent, and this book is propulsive, gut-wrenching, tender, and wise."
-Kimberly King Parsons, author of We Were the Universe
"The Living god has the quality of a voice from the grave, or a story told through a spirit board. It features a small set of characters-the leader, the seeker, and the lost-whose lives interlock, forming a specifically American picture of spiritual richness and destitution. In crisp, often sumptuous prose, Sam Heaps moves us through 24 hours in the life of 'baby,' a lost soul navigating several intense relationships from the margins. The Living god establishes Heaps as a serious writer, and SARKA as a press to watch for releases in the future."
-Ben Fama, author of If I Close My Eyes
Told over 24 hours outside Whitehall, Montana, The Living god follows baby, the young lover of aging prophetess Elaina, and Jesse, the father of Elaina's toddler messiah, as they struggle in exile after a catastrophe in their religious community. When baby miscarries Jesse's child, their futures are thrown into turmoil, forcing the couple to face the violent desires that have motivated their lives. Its core question-How can a community be something other than a unit of exclusion?-is both call and echo.
Thematically linked to Women Talking by Miriam Toews, and stylistically reminiscent of Christine Schutt's Nightwork, The Living god embodies what literature must do if it is meant to change us-ask us to reframe our relationship to ourselves and the broken belief systems that no longer serve us.
"The Living god is a beautifully brutal story about loss-of faith, love, and family-but it's also a novel about the very nature of storytelling, and the ways language itself fails us. Sam Heaps is a stunning, tremendous talent, and this book is propulsive, gut-wrenching, tender, and wise."
-Kimberly King Parsons, author of We Were the Universe
"The Living god has the quality of a voice from the grave, or a story told through a spirit board. It features a small set of characters-the leader, the seeker, and the lost-whose lives interlock, forming a specifically American picture of spiritual richness and destitution. In crisp, often sumptuous prose, Sam Heaps moves us through 24 hours in the life of 'baby,' a lost soul navigating several intense relationships from the margins. The Living god establishes Heaps as a serious writer, and SARKA as a press to watch for releases in the future."
-Ben Fama, author of If I Close My Eyes
135 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 18, 2025
In The Living god, Heaps shows off a remarkable gift in not-saying. So much is not said in this slim volume, and Heaps shows true artistry in their confidence not to say it. The prose retains a dreamlike quality throughout, from the recurring dream-image that opens the novel through the expert weaving of deep past, near past and present storylines woven through each hour's section. Heaps shows remarkable storytelling prowess striking a balance of now vs then, conceal vs confess. There is so much to pull out of this fiction debut. Truly stunning.
October 16, 2025
Harrowing, horny, and helpless are 3 adjectives for The Living God. Heap’s fiction debut contains consistent and precise storytelling with a score of zealots that I would love to see psycho-analyzed; not a carefree character exists in this novel. I did get a bit misguided through the liminal, dreamy conclusion, but what’s left is very raw.
September 30, 2025
A shocking, brutal, tender, spiritual, gorgeous novel. The Living god is the kind of story that stays with you.
January 13, 2026
beautiful, elegant and subtle. i could picture the entire book by way of Tim Blake Nelson’s film, Eye of God.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews