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"Stones are falling from the ceiling of my apartment. First one, then two, then dozens. I take refuge beneath the kitchen table as the bounce and dance across every surface, denting the toaster, gouging into the old linoleum of the floor. The falling stones are like a rain of hail, so absurd in this setting that I want to laugh."
Plot: Historian gets hired to research potential miracles of a long dead and forgotten nun in order to elevate her to sainthood. His research eventually leads him back to New Orleans, where he once had a brief relationship with a beautiful, troubled rich girl he has never gotten over. They obviously meet up again and his research into the nun takes some unexpected turns in which we learn her backstory and her connections to all involved in the present day.
Why read it?: The storyline is very good and there are some really good, well written sections in this book. It's not a masterpiece but it is inventive and keeps you guessing.
A book that succeeds far beyond what it probably should. This kind of reads like a adolescent male fantasy where the nerdy guy chases after the rich, wild beautiful girl. But it works, and the surrounding story makes it all the richer.
The quoted section, which is the start of the novel, is really good, and that helps. Our hero Ned Conti, a research historian, lagging in finishing his dissertation and in need of money, takes a job with a Brooklyn rectory to do research and search for possible miracles by a long dead Brooklyn nun in the hope of elevating her to sainthood. Eventually this will lead Ned back to New Orleans, where his old love, Antoinette lives. There will be three different stories going on - Ned and Antoinette's affair in the past, Ned's search for the mystery of the nun, and a story of forbidden love, treachery, revenge, and redemption in 19th century New Orleans. And somehow it all gets tied together in what could be a really cringe worthy mess, but that doesn't happen. Some of the hammy bits, a séance that goes wrong, a back history that may remind you of watching Mandingo, and a few very convenient coincidences, may make you wince, but overall they didn't detract too much. Antoinette is a fun character (at times you wonder what she sees in Ned, but, hey, it's a guy fantasy more than anything), and the ghost parts work well.
