John Quinn has lost his faith, gotten involved in shady business dealings, and hasn’t had sex in several weeks, and that’s just the beginning. A beautiful young deaf woman claims to have experienced the Virgin Mary and suddenly miracle healings begin all over town. Quinn’s boss, the bishop in charge of the Catholic Diocese, wants the side show closed and the growing hordes of pilgrims sent home. But how does Quinn accomplish that feat, face an IRS audit, find out why Rita doesn’t dream, and get the bishop to stop calling his Land Rover a Jeep?
Scribner’s novel is by turns racy, serious and downright hysterical. The likeable cast of flawed characters in Miracle Girl will have you cheering for the good guys and hissing the villain. The beauty of the detailed descriptions of cathedrals, sensuous movement, crowds of believers and tension filled moments make this book hard to put down.
By the end of the novel you just may understand what it is that makes humanity desperate to believe in the saving grace or distractions of a Miracle Girl.
~ Review by Denise Bell
Author: Keith Scribner
Riverhead Books 2003
289 pp., $14.00
