num_pages: 432
description: First published to overwhelming acclaim in 1951, Lie Down in Darkness is the novel that established William Styron as a writer of international stature. It is a brooding, rhapsodic, sometimes searing portrait of a Southern family in extremis: Milton Loftis, a man of great charm and infinite weakness; Helen Loftis, who has given all her frustrated love to their crippled daughter, Maudie; and Peyton Loftis, adored by her father, loathed by her mother, and ultimately destroyed by that mixed inheritance. 
language: English
title: Lie Down in Darkness
titlecomplete: Lie Down in Darkness (Black Swan)
genres: Fiction, American, Literature, Classics, Novels, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Southern, Literary Fiction, Southern Gothic
ratings_count: 3362
places: Virginia
awards: awardedAt: -568051200000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Fiction
publisher: Black Swan