FICTION

Anatomy of a Miracle

Hogarth: Crown. Mar. 2018. 352p. ISBN 9780553447583. $27; ebk. ISBN 9780553447590. F
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Satire at its best is constructive social criticism, and Miles (Dear American Airlines; Want Not) is perfecting this craft in the 21st century. Outside a convenience store in Biloxi, MS, Cameron Harris waits in his wheelchair while his sister runs in to buy beer. Cameron is an alcoholic. Cameron is a paraplegic. Cameron is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. And, on this day, as he stands up and begins to walk, Cameron becomes a miracle. His hermetic life is soon turned upside down with floods of prayer requests and a reality television crew following him around. While Cameron's doctor searches for a scientific explanation for his recovery in the medical literature, the Vatican dispatches an officer from the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints to open an investigation. As the world focuses on the mystery of his recovery, Cameron struggles to conceal a long-held secret that complicates our understanding of divine agency.
VERDICT With sincerity and wit, Miles pens a strong, sardonic rumination on the religious boundaries of the miraculous. [See Prepub Alert, 9/15/17.]
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