A woman who leads a quiet life, keeping other people at a cool distance, one day utters an idle wish to be struck by lightning --- and her wish is granted. Instead of killing her, this cataclysmic event marks a strange and powerful new beginning. As the woman soon finds herself drawn into a passionate relationship with another survivor of a lightning strike, a mysterious stranger who harbors dark secrets. Their affair becomes the center of a riveting story of loss, love, and redemption. Here is a novel that reveals Alice Hoffman at the very height of her powers.

“Nothing less than stellar…Hoffman reminds us little distance there is between magic and mundane.” Amy Waldman, People

“Beneath the spell Alice Hoffman casts with her deceptively beguiling storytelling, the author reveals the darkest human truths. Hoffman’s brand of magic isn’t fanciful. It’s fearless.” Miami Herald

*“A stellar novel” Publishers Weekly starred review