There, they became part of the village and she++ became more and more entranced by little Sainte Foy, whose bones, encased by gold and jewels, are the "shining center" of it all. Her book takes place during a 24 hour period, although the centuries weave through it.

The first of three parts introduces the villagers and Sainte Foy. The second opens in 982 and is the story of Gilbert the Illumine and of Bernard of Angers, writer of The Book of Miracles, two other authors important to this extraordinary story. The third part returns to the present and the Fete of Sainte Foy -- and ordinary time and daily life. A beach umbrella catches fire and burns. An old cow dies. A villager forgets to close the spigot on his vat and all his wine flows down the Rue Emil Roudie. In between, we have dealt with miracles large and small, with churches built on extinct volcanoes, with stone monoliths where magnetic fields of force can be felt, sacred places, holy and healing places, the memories of pilgrims out of Egypt, and the Celts, and the Romans...and the pilgrim Hannah Green, deeply American, who sought and found one other place on earth that became hers, too, the kind of place which many seek, know it or not.