Book Description

“The author seems to be standing on the shoulders of giants . . . gives a rare human depth to a young priest who wants to become a saint” (San Francisco Chronicle). In a pitch-perfect, deeply satisfying work of fiction selected as a New York Times Notable Book, a Publishers Weekly Best Book, and recipient of the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California, master storyteller L’Heureux enters the world of an unorthodox young priest whose faith is put to the test. Father Paul LeBlanc is young, handsome, and charismatic, but he has dangerous ideas on sex, marriage, and birth control—and he just doesn’t uphold the decorum expected of a young priest. When, for no reason, a miracle occurs—a dead girl is brought back to life before his eyes—Father LeBlanc finds his faith, his vows, his reason, and his life itself called into question, leaving him with nowhere to turn. Witty, profound, and deeply moving, The Miracle explores the way God meddles in our lives and to what end. It is John L’Heureux’s best, most daring novel to date. “Written in swift-moving prose of unaffected simplicity . . . It comes off as neither pat nor preachy but, rather, as a delicately nuanced portrait of recognizable human individuals making what they can of life.” —The New York Times Book Review “L’Heureux brings the priest through his crisis of faith with the same tenderness that makes all his books such a pleasure in read.” —TheLos Angeles Times Book Review “L’Heureux’s snappy, succulent novel of faith and body, starts out sharp and ends with a razor slash.” —The Baltimore Sun