"Anatomy of a Miracle" by Jonathan Miles

It is difficult to explain this novel which at the outset pretends to be a true story, a reporter's account of Cameron, a paralyzed veteran from the war in Afghanistan who suddenly gets up and walks.  (Since this happens in the first three pages of the book and is the major focus of the story, this is not a spoiler.)  No one can explain this sudden medical anomaly and therefore it begins to be seen as a miracle, a gift from God. Before long, the parking lot of the cheap convenience store where this "miracle" occurred becomes a shrine to Cameron, his primary doctor begins pouring over scans and X-rays and medical data to explain what happened, the Vatican gets involved to turn an adjunct to this miracle into a saint and we get flashbacks to Cameron's days in Afghanistan.  

This is one strange story, at first just a bit amusing, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. But slowly the story becomes more than a kind of miracle, slowly things begin to unravel for Cameron and we see other sides to his life, we see his faith in everything questioned and a modicum of truth about the "miracle" slides into view. 

Mile's descriptions are clear and vivid:  His black hair was veined with gray and combed assiduously back, and the lines of his face were straight and severe, as though sculpted from some impossibly adamantine material. He wore a midnight-colored suit that even Hat, attuned to the fineries of menswear, recognized as expertly tailored, and in his hand was a briefcase made from a leather more supple and mellow than any leather she'd seen. Approaching the counter he carried himself bluntly but with aristocratic poise, the air and light seeming to part for him out of an ancient deference.  Hat noticed a silver pin, on his suit lapel, consisting of two crossed keys that were banded beneath a bejeweled triple crown."  The writing is simply wonderful.

"Anatomy of a Miracle" is a dialogue about faith vs reality, belief vs imagination, the past and the present at odds with the future and mainly, in the end, about compassion and love.  While this story flies out in many different directions, it always comes back to Cameron and the story of a life.  Check it out, it's a great read.

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