David is a modest man who works in a bank, lives in a rooming house, enjoys books and quiet walks by the lake. Three months after unexpectedly being fired from his job, he takes a temporary position at a mortuary. And there, sitting alone in the “slumber room” one late afternoon, he sees something that he cannot comprehend, something that no science can explain, something that will force him to question everything he believes in, including himself. After his metaphysical experience, all his relationships change—with his estranged wife, his girlfriend, his mother—and he grudgingly finds himself at the center of a bitter public controversy over the existence of the supernatural.
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“Satirical and compassionate, Lightman's brilliantly orchestrated and gripping
tale dramatizes our marshaling of fear, fantasy, and faith as we confront the
unknown and the inevitable. At base, all we can truly trust, Lightman suggests,
is wonder and kindness.”
—
Booklist (starred review)