Defying Gravity

June M. Blurton is a retired speech/language pathologist.

Miranda, a TV producer from Edmonton, is dumped by her boyfriend while
on vacation in Whistler. He is the latest in a string of failed
relationships. She soon meets Indrin, who is ten years younger than she
is and determined to become a Roman Catholic priest. On their journey to
Vancouver, they visit an older priest and give a ride to Edmond, a new
immigrant and a survivor of the massacres in Rwanda. In Vancouver,
Edmond is delivered to a nun who is trying to track down his missing
brother. These meetings provide the backdrop for discussions about the
horrors of genocide, and about the authenticity of the worldwide
appearances of the Virgin Mary. Miranda is not convinced that the latter
are real, but she listens intently because she is desperately seeking a
new way to live her chaotic life. Since the novel is written in the
first person, we hear a great deal about her search and angst, and
enough about her early life to account for her inability to sustain
relationships. More rigorous editing of the heroine’s thoughts would
have improved Defying Gravity, but the discussions are interesting.