From a writer of remarkable depth and courage, a brilliant and haunting novel that explores the intersection of spirituality and sexuality.

Mary is a new mother transformed by the birth of her baby. She is infatuated with the tiny creature, yet feels abandoned by her husband. As her baby sleeps in his crib, she doesn't know whether to kneel in her coat closet and pray or fantasize about sex. She seeks refuge in her old friend Walter, a lonely gay Episcopal priest, who privately struggles with his own contradictory desires. Still grieving over the death of his boyfriend, he finds himself dangerously attracted to a teenage boy. How can he lead his church when he is overwhelmed by nascent desires? Meanwhile Mary meets John, a monk who has just left his monastery after fifteen years because he feels abandoned by God and craves intimacy with a woman. These three characters' lives come together in ways that reveal how even our rawest, most confused impulses may contain elements of the divine.

"In starkly poetic prose, Steinke's fourth novel glimpses the intertwining lives of three Brooklynites, each struggling toward enlightenment. There's Mary, a hip would-be poet who's obsessed with her newborn son and who feels neglected by her immature, partying husband; Mary's old college friend Walter, a gay Episcopal priest who's ashamed of his desires for teenage boys; and John, a onetime monk looking to rediscover his sexuality, who offers Mary emotional refuge. This slim novel isn't the first place Steinke (Suicide Blonde; Up Through Water; Jesus Saves) has explored the connections between sexual and religious yearning, but here the relationship is not fully plumbed ('what Mary wanted was technically impossible: to feel God's touch physically manifested'), and the dramatic situations that sparkle with controversy at the novel's opening fizzle at the end without real resolution. The wintry Brooklyn setting feels as cloistered and solemn as a monastery, in which characters spend more time reflecting than interacting. Steinke's great strengths are her eye for fresh, telling details and her ability to draw her very contemporary, urban characters into a dreamy, timeless story space in which the Second Coming might indeed seem plausible. But despite its complicated sense of morality, this novel reads like an exquisite sketch, as if the real bulk of the story has yet to be written. Agent, Sarah Chalfant. (Feb.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"A lyrical and earthy meditation on the limits and glories of being human." Kirkus Reviews

"In this jarring wisp of a novel, [Steinke] probes the possibilities of that first bond, both erotic and otherworldly." Rachel Aviv, The Village Voice

"An overall enlightening and philosophical book that asks readers to consider other ways to define belief." Library Journal

"A slim, unusual, alternately fascinating and frustrating book....Here's hoping one of Steinke's future novels will probe the far reaches of Christianity and its connection to sex with the zeal of Suicide Blonde, rather than the detachment of Milk." Chicago Tribune

Darcey Steinke is the author of three novels. Up Through Water and Jesus Saves were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her novel Suicide Blonde has been translated into eight languages. Her short fiction has appeared in The Heretic's Bible, Story Magazine, and Bomb, and her nonfiction has been featured in the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Village Voice, Spin, and the New York Times Magazine. Her Web project, Blindspot, was included in the Whitney Museum's 2000 Biennial. She currently teaches at New School University and lives with her daughter in Brooklyn.