The phenomenal #1 "New York Times" bestseller and Oprah's Book Club( pick is now in mass market paperback. This spellbinding novel of responsibility and family, betrayal and redemption is an exquisitely written, profoundly human masterpiece.
A sedici anni Ann è scappata di casa per sottrarsi agli abusi del compagno della madre e si guadagna da vivere raccogliendo funghi ai margini di North Fork, un piccolo paese di taglialegna tra le foreste dello Stato di Washington. Fragile e sola, la salute minata da gravi allergie, Ann trova conforto solo nei medicinali, in qualche allucinogeno e nella religione cattolica. Quando un giorno torna dai boschi sostenendo di aver visto la Vergine Maria, Ann diventa una speranza cui aggrapparsi per gli abitanti del paese e per la folla di persone che vi accorre alla ricerca di un miracolo.
Quirke's pathology department, set deep beneath the city, is his own gloomy realm: always quiet, always night, and always under his control. Until late one evening after a party he stumbles across a body that should not be there and his brother-in-law falsifying the corpse's cause of death. This is the first time Quirke has encountered Christine Falls, but the investigation he decides to lead into the way she lived and died uncovers a dark secret at the heart of Dublin's high Catholic network; one with the power to shake his own family and everything he holds dear. 'A superb stylist ...His control and pacing cannot be faulted, and the final outcome is almost unbearably moving ...You're in for a treat' - Michael Dibdin, Guardian. 'Succeeds sensationally ...An absorbing plot, beguiling characters and evocative settings ...His pacing is impeccable' - Marcel Berlins, The Times. 'A gripping, beautifully crafted thriller ...A one sitting-read, an all-night enticement' - Scotsman.