I got my first glimpse of the galleys for The Miracle Girl last night. I attended the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show and had a wonderful time. I’ll be heading up to San Francisco next week to attend the Northern California version.
I guess this is really happening: You can preorder The Miracle Girl here.
First of all, there’s a new title: THE MIRACLE GIRL. It was hard switching after having had the previous title (BELIEVERS) since the novel’s inception many years ago, but I truly believe this is the best title for the book.
Second, the audio rights have been sold(!).
Third, I’ve been invited to attend some book seller conferences (in San Francisco and Los Angeles) in October, which will help start promoting the book.
Fourth, galleys (preview copies that are sent out to reviewers, media, etc.) are imminent.
And lastly, there’s now an official publication day: April 21, 2015. It seems like a long way off, but I’m sure it will be here before I know it.
In the meantime, I’m plugging away at a new long-ish thing.
I’ve been fortunate enough to get some very kind, very generous blurbs for my upcoming novel…
“Look at Andrew Roe’s BELIEVERS from one angle and you’ll see a story of a family split apart by a devastating accident: a beleaguered and grieving mother, a guilt-stricken and adrift father, a comatose young girl who requires more from them than they know how to provide. From another, you’ll see an incisive and insightful critique of America at the millennium and today, investigating where we put our faith and why. From another—and this is, I think, the greatest of Roe’s achievements in this captivating and assured debut—you’ll see a memorable feat of intense and widespread empathy; Roe inhabits dozens of characters (principals and minor players both) who are desperate to believe, hears their voices, and reveals to us their deepest needs and wounds and hopes, and he does so with unfailing kindness, generosity, and wisdom. It’s a novel about what it means to be human, to be lost or broken, a little or a lot, and to seek connection and hope and maybe even transcendence in the world around us.”
—Doug Dorst, author of S. and Alive in Necropolis
“To believe or not to believe—that is the question facing all who are touched by Annabelle, the comatose “miracle girl” at the swirling center of Mr. Roe’s dazzling debut. But BELIEVERS is more than an exploration of the mysteries of faith. It’s also the unforgettable story of one family’s struggle against tragedy. The result is an uplifting miracle of a book.”
—Will Allison, author of Long Drive Home
“In Andrew Roe’s BELIEVERS, we’re reminded that the desire for miracles always connotes dissatisfaction, even as it articulates a hope. Roe deftly explores this paradox with clean, sharp prose; the novel’s intuitive, shifting structure (providing not only different character’s perspectives, but press releases, documents and, really productively, comments on web message boards) generates a multi-faceted exploration into what it means to believe. Also—through Anabelle, the child at its center—Roe’s novel examines the strange responsibility of being believed in. A stunning, confident debut.”
—Peter Rock, author of The Shelter Cycle and My Abandonment
