Above the Thunder

This is a novel of journeys, of the paths four people take because their lives are lacking in some significant way. "The devout and the desperate start from different points, but meet along the road", one character says. "In the end, there is no difference in Bethlehem or the bath-houses. Both are pilgrimages that begin and end in faith". Anna has just turned fifty, widowed, estranged from her only child, and embittered by a life that is full on the surface but empty at its core. When her daughter, Poppy, calls after a twelve-year absence and asks if she and her family can visit, Anna reluctantly agrees. Soon after, Poppy's husband and their ten-year-old daughter, Flynn, show up on her doorstep without Poppy, to stay. As a favour to a friend, Anna agrees to help to co-ordinate a support group for HIV patients. On the first day she meets Jack, who must choose between his "considerable appetites" and Stuart, his partner who has been unwaveringly faithful for over a decade. Stuart, in turn, struggles with whether his deep love for Jack will survive the storms ahead. It is Flynn -- imaginative, inspired, and haunted by her convictions about the spirit world -- who becomes the centre of this unlikely but devoted family. Gorgeously written and imbued with wisdom and humour, "Above the Thunder" is a celebration of unexpected connections and the search for home.