A mystical love story that bridges heaven and earth.
Helen Baldwin, a Baptist preacher's young wife, was raised in one of the poorest regions of southern Appalachia. When her ambitious husband is sent to plant a church in a bustling city in New Jersey, she is expected to create a new life and identity for herself as a woman of social grace and stature. Instead, she accepts a job at the local soup kitchen where she finds a sense of place among the soup kitchen's homeless and working poor guests. Helen's growing attraction to one guest in particular, an enigmatic Vietnam veteran, sets the stage for Helen's struggle to discern between light and darkness - and leads her to embark upon a journey that will force her to confront her own demons from the past. Incognito appearances in and around the soup kitchen by St. Francis of Assisi (the narrator), St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and other well-known friends of God, turn Saints in the City into an entertaining and meaningful exploration of the idea that the veil between Heaven and earth is thin indeed - and that we are called to "be" what we all intrinsically are: modern saints, often formed in tragic ways. While it is at its heart a mystical and romantic journey, Saints in the City is also a provocative parable about the pitfalls of moral judgment, love as a powerful, binding force between persons of all social classes and conditions, and the idea that restoration is possible for all people, no matter what is the root of their brokenness or shame