To a God Unknown is a novel by John Steinbeck, first published in 1933. The book was Steinbeck's second novel (after his unsuccessful Cup of Gold), the title taken from a hymn excerpt of the Rig Veda's Book X. Steinbeck found To a God Unknown extremely difficult to write; taking him roughly five years to complete, the novella proved more time-consuming than either East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's longest novels.