Product Description

Orphaned at age four and raised by her black-clad, rosary-mumbling, preoccupied grandmother, Frankka discovered the ability to perform the stigmata as a way to attract her grandmother's attention. Now twenty-eight, Frankka's still using this extraordinary talent, crisscrossing the country with "The Death and Resurrection Show," a Catholic-themed traveling freak show and cast of misfits who have quickly become her new family. But when a reporter from the Los Angeles Times shows up to review the show, Frankka finds herself on the front page of the newspaper -- the unwitting center of a religious debate. Now unsure of who she is and where she belongs, Frankka disappears in search of herself and a place to call home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #836163 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-01
• Released on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060854287
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The traditions of Catholicism and the sideshow come together in this earnest but fresh journey through the travails of a performing stigmatic. As an orphaned child raised by her devout Catholic but inattentive grandmother, Frances Catherine (Frankka) discovered she could make her palms bleed spontaneously when she grew hungry. When her musician friend Tony learns of her skill, they hit the road as a performance troupe, and soon form the titular show along with a collection of misfits and mystics: the levitating drag queen Madre Pia, the diva acrobat Magdalena, the fortuneteller Lupe, the bearded lady Paula and the gentle Italian fire-eater Barbaro. When the L.A. Times breaks the story of Frankka's strange skill, the troupe is mobbed by fanatical crowds, and Frankka, feeling betrayed, flees to the mountains of California, where she meets a Catholic spiritual mentor, Dorothy. Punctuating the narrative with stories of the saints, Gore (Atlas of the Human Heart, a memoir) depicts Frankka's religious reawakening with both irreverence and respect for tradition and faith. Predictably, Frankka's spiritual journey leads her to reconfront her troupe family, and the show goes on, with love, drama and reconciliation in its wake.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gore's debut centers around Frankka, a 28-year-old woman who is able to bleed at will from stigmata-like scars on her palms. Orphaned at age four, Frankka first discovered her gift as a child when she prayed for a way to restore her grandmother's failing faith. Frankka now uses her gift in "The Death and Resurrection" show, a small traveling troupe that tours the U.S. performing in various cities, big and small. Frankka is hardly the only oddball in the group--there's a bearded lady and a man who can breathe fire, among the performers--but it is her gift that draws the attention of a Los Angeles Times reporter who writes a piece on Frankka's gift and exposes her to the ire of religious fanatics. Thinking someone in her group has betrayed her, Frankka flees to the woods of California, looking for both an escape from the attention and an answer to her spiritual crisis. Piercing and insightful, Gore's first novel limns one woman's complicated relationship with her religion and her personal faith. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"An affecting tale about the search for home, connection and authenticity." -- Christopher Castellani, author of The Saint of Lost Things

"[A] savvy rebuke of religious bigotry and a fun, fast, memorable read. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal

"[An] earnest but fresh journey through the travails of a performing stigmatic."

-- Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews

"Embrace the mystery!"
Take a rollicking roadtrip with a troupe of religious misfits, spinning along the fine line between insanity and saint-ity. A captivating story spiced with renegade-Catholic wisdom for living your own mythology.

A wonderful surprise from an author with great promise
After reading her memoir, "Atlas of the Human Heart," I decided why not try her first novel.
Her storyline is unique, a traveling religious, spiritual side show, with her protagonist the stigmata star.
Interspersed are sketches of the protagonist's favorite Christian Saints, whose lives and writings influence the life of story's main character.
This author is a fresh, new voice in the literary world, and I believe she will go far.
Although this novel is just 219 pages, it seems just the write length. All loose ends are tied neatly together, and the ending is touching.

Thanks, Ariel
Another fabulous piece of writing from Ms. Gore. The way in which she weaves words always leaves me wishing it would never end.

I especially loved the passages about the saints - something I have always been interested in.

Read it on a cold, rainy night... you'll want to turn off the phone, lock the bedroom door and put the dishes and laundry off indefinitely.