Absent a Miracle

An ex-talk show host, her cheating husband, and a plot to canonize a friend's Nicaraguan aunt make for "pure, unadulterated adulterous entertainment" (The New York Times). Alice Fairweather, a lapsed Catholic who lives in upstate New York with her two sons and philandering husband (whom she loves to distraction), has just lost her dream job as a radio talk show hostess. When one of the family dogs suddenly becomes gravely ill, Alice opts out of a family spelunking vacation to nurse the pooch. Unexpectedly, her husband's charismatic Nicaraguan Harvard roommate, Abelardo—coffee planter, failed seminarian, and scion of an old Nicaraguan family—comes to visit as part of his quest to have his aunt canonized as the first Nicaraguan saint. Through a variety of somewhat bizarre and miraculous events, Abelardo must return home to his village before his canonization work is complete. But Alice, with time on her hands and a void to fill, adopts...