When two extraordinary young women -- Felicity, a Creole orphan, and Andrea, who found asylum in Jerusalem after her internment in a Serbian POW camp -- meet in New Orleans, they understand that they are together destined to embody the Messiah as Armageddon rages across the globe. Felicity, charismatic and indefatigable, attracts a tribe of pierced and tattooed young drifters, who call themselves the "Shades", and are desperate to find a savior. And in the Big Easy at the turn of the century, when the Shades come into epic conflict with a powerful, fundamentalist preacher and an array of fervent, militant religious leaders, there seems to be no shortage of would-be saviors.

In Messiah, Andrei Codrescu writes at the pinnacle of his talent, combining sensuous prose, mordant social commentary, and his most memorable characters yet.