The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn: A Novel (P.S.)

Told in alternating chapters by four strong voices, The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn is at once a story of hope and desperation, of fact and fantasy. Janis Hallowell's characters' distinctive voices come through with absolute clarity: Chester, the homeless man who believes that Francesca is the Blessed Virgin and names himself her protector; Francesca, a shy, withdrawn, 14-year-old who plays the cello and longs for her father's attention following her parents' divorce; Sid, Francesca's troubled and mostly loyal best girlfriend; and Anne, Francesca's all-business, world-traveling, I-love-my-daughter-but-science-is-god paleobotanist Mom.

Hallowell describes the line where the wish to believe in a divine presence crosses over into holy madness and the conviction that the wish has been fulfilled. Chester says, after noticing the strong fragrance of roses emanating from Francesca when she "appears" to him: "The smell of roses, the velvety ache of them, lured me in…I am no newcomer to strangeness... It's my curse and my blessing that I can smell things that other people can't... Anger coming off a person is an acrid, mustardy thing... and lying has a cloying, soapy small that makes my mouth pleat." He is not surprised that he is the first to know that Francesca is a Blessed Virgin, carrying a Savior.

While the novel is reminiscent of David Guterson's Our Lady of the Forest, Hallowell's characters are infinitely more appealing; they are eccentric without being caricatures. Everyone in the story has dimension and importance: Ronnie, the restaurant owner who serves meals to the homeless; her sister Rae and Rae's son Jonah, a lovable five-year-old genius, and Father Gervais, a hip Jesuit who is sent to verify Francesca's healings as miraculous--all contribute mightily to a tightly woven fable. --Valerie Ryan