The Patron Saint of Ugly, Marie Manilla
The Patron Saint of Ugly, Marie Manilla
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The Patron Saint of Ugly

Author: Marie Manilla

Narrator: Laura Hicks

Unabridged: 13 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/17/2014

Synopsis

Born in Sweetwater, West Virginia, with a mop of flaming red hair and a map of the world rendered in port-wine stains on every surface of her body, Garnet Ferrari is used to being an outcast. With her sharp tongue, she has always known how to defend herself against bullies and aggressors but finds she is less adept at fending off the pilgrims who have set up a veritable tent city outside her hilltop home, convinced she is Saint Garnet, healer of skin ailments and maker of miracles.Her grandmother, the indelible Nonna Diamante, believes Garnet's mystical gift can be traced back to the family's origins in the Nebrodi Mountains of Sicily, and now the Vatican has sent an emissary to Sweetwater to investigate. Garnet, wanting nothing more than to debunk this "gift" and send these desperate souls packing, reaches back into her family's tangled past and unspools for the church a tale of love triangles on the shores of the Messina Strait; a sad, beautiful maiden's gilded-cage childhood in blueblood Virginia; and the angelic, doomed boy Garnet could not protect.Saint or not, Garnet learns that the line between reality and myth is always blurred and that the aspects of ourselves we are most ashamed of can prove to be the source of our greatest strength, and even our salvation.

About Marie Manilla

Marie Manilla is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and her fiction has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Prairie Schooner, and Mississippi Review, among other journals.

About Laura Hicks

Laura Hicks is an Obie Award–winning actress who has appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater, film, and television. A native New Yorker and a Juilliard graduate, she has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia, Austria, Italy, and Ireland.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Always on May 31, 2017

The story is about Garnet who has a port wine stain and has spent her life being the ugly child. Also her grandma starts this story about her being a saint and curing people when she's younger which continues into her adulthood and we get to read her interview with someone from Rome who came to inve......more

Goodreads review by jv on May 08, 2018

After chomping at the bit for months, finally, at long last, I get to tell you: I have read 2014’s Best Novel and it is The Patron Saint of Ugly. Created, crafted and chronicled by the magnificent Marie Manilla, this written work of art will capture your mind, tug your heart-strings and enrich your......more

Goodreads review by Lolly K Dandeneau on March 25, 2014

This book was so good, it was full of quirky characters. It reminded me of Daniel Wallace's stories. This is storytelling at it's finest. I am not officially reviewing it, but I have an arc. I know it's terrible to say 'this should be a movie' but I could really see this one coming to life on the bi......more

Goodreads review by Christine on August 23, 2014

I received an advance reader copy of this book and had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I was thoroughly impressed. I accidentally put off reading this for a few days at first. I had many other books I'd been wanting to read and wasn’t sure what to expect, but man, once I got into this, I got......more

Goodreads review by Becky on July 22, 2014

Read this based on all the 5 star reviews. Really wanted to like this book but just never got into it no matter how hard I tried. ALL of the characters had a serious underlying problem that they were never able to overcome - I found it depressing. If you want quirky, I'd recommend A Man Called Ove o......more

Quotes

“A vastly entertaining story of a reluctant saint, her indelible nonna, and their family’s long history of love, trickery, and transcendence. I can’t imagine any reader not enjoying Manilla’s sparkling tale, or the girl who tells it.” Whitney Otto, New York Times bestselling author

“Manilla’s second novel is clever, funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming, all at once…A lovely, hopeful tale.” Publishers Weekly

“Manilla, whose first novel, Shrapnel, won the Fred Bonnie Award for Best First Novel, has created a complex, endearing character, whose story will absorb readers from beginning to end. Beautifully written, filled with detailed prose meant to be savored, Manilla’s latest is a captivating reminder of the blurred line between myth and reality.” Booklist

“With The Patron Saint of Ugly, Marie Manilla has written more than a novel: she’s written what we used to call a tale. It’s all here, folks, the whole world. How does Manilla write about God and history and love and loss and make it all so miraculously readable? How does she make this book so much fun, even as it breaks your heart? Beats me, but she did it. Plus which, anyone who can mention Buddy Holly and Pius XII in the same sentence is my hero.” Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish

“Patron Saint of Ugly is as steeped in magic as one of Nonna’s spells—it will make you laugh, fill you with wonder, and break your heart all at once. Garnet, the unwilling saint of ugly, performs miracles among a delightful cast of Italian witches, Southern families, and the deformed and injured who come in search of healing. But surviving her distressed family, and repairing her own broken soul, may be the biggest miracle of all. Richly conceived and energetic, this is a tale of love, rejection, and the hazy lines between reality and myth.” Zoë Ferraris, author of Finding Nouf

Awards

  • Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week
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