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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
The car accident and burns are described in medical detail; some historical violence
Language
Some
Adult language throughout
Sexual Content
Some
Adult sexual relationships; the narrator's profession (porn) is referenced but not depicted in detail
Substance Use
A lot
Heavy prescription pain medication during burn recovery; prior drug habit is backstory
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The psychological weight of surviving catastrophic disfigurement; the strange comfort and terror of Marianne's devotion
What this book is about
The unnamed narrator—a porn director with an elegant life and a drug habit—crashes his car into a ravine and catches fire. He survives with severe burn injuries over most of his body. During his long, agonizing recovery, he is visited by Marianne Engel, a psychiatric patient who insists she loved him in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a nun at the Engelthal monastery. Davidson's debut novel is simultaneously a medieval love story, a contemporary medical drama, and a meditation on purgatory—gorgeous, excessive, and unlike anything else.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Graphic medical description of severe burns and recovery
Heavy prescribed pain medication and prior drug use
Adult content throughout
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