THE THEFT & THE MIRACLE

This first novel by a British violist combines many elements: mystery, time-slip, even a little horror and allegory. Hannah Price worries about her weight and her complexion, but she is a kind girl and the best artist in her school. One day, a sudden storm drives her into the local cathedral, where she is mesmerized by the ancient oak-carved Virgin and Child, and sketches it. What follows is dizzying in its complexity: a story of school and family, but also odd teachers (are they witches?), reversals of personality, historical moments shimmering in the present, and even an appearance by an angelic gentleman named Gabriel, all turned on the fulcrum of the figure of the Child that is stolen from his mother’s carved arms. The last 50 pages yoke a lot of things together by violence, and might pull an alert reader out of the story, but those willing to go along just for the ride will have a rather thrilling time. (Fiction. 9-12)