First published 2008
A nameless man drives down a dark road when arrows seem to fly at his windshield. He crashes into a ravine and awakens in a hospital burn ward, his body destroyed and his future seemingly over. Then Marianne Engel walks into his room. This wild sculptress carves gargoyles and tells him an impossible story. She claims they were lovers centuries ago in medieval Germany, when he was a burned mercenary and she was a nun who healed him at Engelthal monastery. As he recovers, Marianne spins tale after tale like Scheheradaze, weaving stories of eternal love across Japan, Greenland, Italy, and England. Her stories draw him back from despair. Through her words and presence, the burned man discovers that his life is not ending but beginning. Love becomes possible again.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, fantasy, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Germany, Greenland, Italy, Japan, England
Period: Medieval, Modern
468 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday