"Now some people would say that this is nothing more than coincidence. Happenstance....But there are others who believe there is no such thing as coincidence...They believe everything is connected and that these connections---what we call coincidences---are meaningful signals from the universe."
-Father Gervase, from the novel
At first I found this novel depressing, then intriguing, thinking it might rate a 5. The ending confused me a bit knocking it down to a 4. There WAS a lot to like, however.
Accomplished portrait artist Will Light has been suffering the agonizing loss of his only daughter, 15-year-old Lucy, to a brutal murder. Because he is so bitter and vengeful, his marriage to wife Sophie is in jeopardy. This seemed realistic to me as I've heard of marriages torn apart by the death of a child. Will's story is interrupted occasionally by narratives of Rain La Brea, Lucy's best friend, and that of Father Gervase, the parish priest, who at the bequest of the Cardinal, asks Will to paint portraits of saints for a new cathedral.
My favorite characters were Father Gervase and Dr. Mallory, the psychiatrist who sees Rain, a very troubled teen. Both of them are very wise, as well as kind and patient. Of course, their profound thoughts have to be credited to the writer. LeClaire's style is very readable and I will look for other novels she has written.
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