The Miracle [Hardcover]

John L'Heureux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2002

John L'Heureux has been acclaimed as "[a] master storyteller ... elegant, cunning, and wickedly funny" (The Washington Post). Now, in a pitch-perfect, deeply satisfying work of fiction, he enters the world of an unorthodox young priest whose faith is put to the test. Young and extremely charismatic, Father LeBlanc has just been transferred out of Boston because of his dangerous ideas on sex, marriage, and birth control -- and his failure to maintain proper decorum. Exiled to a summer beach community, he looks after elderly Father Moriarty who, on the edge of death, is beginning to question his belief in God. While Father LeBlanc is guarding his own sanctity, two compelling women come to him for answers. Then a miracle occurs -- the impossible happens right before his eyes -- and Father LeBlanc finds his faith and his vows, his life itself, all called into question. Witty, profound, and deeply moving, The Miracle is L'Heureux's finest work. "A writer who picks up his readers by the scruff of the neck and won't let go." -- Chicago Tribune "John L'Heureux is perhaps today's most frightening novelist because his characters ... are the people we see and know...." -- Richard Wakefield, Seattle Times

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

L'Heureux (An Honorable Profession, etc.) takes a wry but revelatory look at the connection between faith and love in his latest novel, about a charismatic, self-absorbed, 34-year-old priest named Paul LeBlanc who gets transferred out of his South Boston parish for challenging church doctrine. LeBlanc finds himself adrift in his new assignment at a tiny New Hampshire seacoast parish, but once he settles in, he develops a close relationship with the erstwhile pastor, Father Moriarty, who is dying from ALS, and also with Moriarty's caretaker, an attractive, 30ish woman named Rose. The parish is rocked when Rose's wild teenage daughter, Mandy, is pronounced dead of a drug overdose, only to wake up suddenly. LeBlanc sees the incident as the miracle that represents the hidden reason for his move to New Hampshire, but everyone else remains skeptical, and the debate is rendered moot when Mandy subsequently dies in a motorcycle accident. Grief soon turns the attraction between Rose and LeBlanc into a physical affair, and while LeBlanc instantly regrets his lapse, he continues to drift from his clerical duties when he begins seeing a beautiful, troubled parishioner named Annaka Malley. L'Heureux's strength is his ability to expose the all-too-human foibles and flaws of his outstanding ensemble cast, as he connects the dots with short, punchy scenes that instantly get to the heart of the matter. As usual, L'Heureux also looks unflinchingly at a variety of tough moral issues, balancing the serious stuff with humor in a deceptively light style that makes this book entertaining as well as challenging. The formulaic resolution to the subplot involving Malley and LeBlanc is the one minor misstep here, but, overall, this is a balanced, wise book built around the life of a priest in a time when the clerical profession is under attack from a wide array of critics.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

It takes a miracle to shake the faith of young Father LeBlanc, who has stirred up the hierarchy with his worldly ideas. Poet/novelist L'Heureux is a former Jesuit.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; 1 edition (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871138573
• ISBN-13: 978-0871138576
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,512,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Well Done, Witty Novel, May 21, 2003

By 

Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Miracle (Hardcover)

John L'Heureux's The Miracle is a very well written novel that it witty and contemplative at the same time. Father Paul LeBlanc is a priest in Boston in the early seventies when his ideas on the Vietnam War and birth control, among others, gets him sent to a small beach community in New Hampshire to care for a dying priest. This setting gets him in much more trouble. He witnesses the death of a young woman who "miraculously" comes back to life. This miracle plunges him into, for the lack of a better word, soul searching, where he deeply questions his vocation. L'Heureux writes well and this is a quick, engrossing read. I found a couple of the characters a little unconvincing, but other than that, an excellent novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humbling and Arousing, December 8, 2003

By 

MennoBookWoman "MennoBookWoman" (Bend, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Miracle: A Novel (Paperback)

There is something about this book that kept me awake,made me a bit nervous and then made me want to lay down in a quiet meadow and read the whole thing again. Heureux's work reads like poetry. Its spare lyricism possesses surprises at every turn...sudden whimsy, sudden anger, sudden eroticism, sudden sin, and sudden wit, the kind that is rooted in bright hope. This book is more than a story although the elements of story are powerfully present. Something makes me think it might be life-changing. If there IS a God, that is.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Emotionally Satisfying Read, February 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Miracle (Hardcover)

Reminded me at times of John Irving's A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY and some of Gail Godwin's writing. I wish it was longer -- at just over 200 pages, it is a "fast read" and you'll probably miss the characters when it's over. (How cliche is that?!)