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Overview
With the new millennium approaching, the eccentric town of Thebes grows even stranger. Mrs. Leontina Scales begins speaking in tongues after being clocked by a Catholic statuette. Her daughter, Tabitha, and her sons scheme to save their mother or surrender her to Jesus—whatever comes first. Meanwhile, choir director Jeremy Carr, caught between lust and ambition, fumbles his way toward Y2K. The ancient Sisters of the Sorrowful Mysteries join with a gay singing group. The Radical Radiants battle the Catholics. A Christmas pageant goes horribly awry. And a child is born.
Only a modern master like Gregory Maguire could spin a tale as frantic, funny, and farcical as The Next Queen of Heaven.
Synopsis
With the new millennium approaching, the eccentric town of Thebes grows even stranger. Mrs. Leontina Scales begins speaking in tongues after being clocked by a Catholic statuette. Her daughter, Tabitha, and her sons scheme to save their mother or surrender her to Jesus—whatever comes first. Meanwhile, choir director Jeremy Carr, caught between lust and ambition, fumbles his way toward Y2K. The ancient Sisters of the Sorrowful Mysteries join with a gay singing group. The Radical Radiants battle the Catholics. A Christmas pageant goes horribly awry. And a child is born.
Only a modern master like Gregory Maguire could spin a tale as frantic, funny, and farcical as The Next Queen of Heaven.
Publishers Weekly
Maguire, who made a name for himself with bestselling fantasy books like Wicked, delivers a sharp, funny, and provocative dual coming-of-age story set in 1999 upstate New York, focusing on obnoxious 17-year-old Tabitha Scales, and Jeremy Carr, a musician and director of the local Catholic church choir. Tabitha becomes the caretaker of her devoutly Protestant mother, Leontina, after she takes a nasty bump on the head and transforms into a foul-mouthed, helpless stranger. Jeremy, meanwhile, hopes an upcoming music gig in New York City will give him what it takes to leave Thebes--and former flame Willem Handelaers, now happily married with children--in the past. Jeremy's longing for Willem is heartbreakingly conveyed, as is Tabitha's rushed maturity and yearning for a man she later learns is engaged to a woman in Jeremy's choir. In conversations and their inner lives, Maguire's characters philosophize about faith, religion, acceptance, and desire in a way that never feels forced or preachy, and though cutesy at times, Maguire's humor buoys the darker story lines and keeps this winning story on track. (Oct.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Maguire, who made a name for himself with bestselling fantasy books like Wicked, delivers a sharp, funny, and provocative dual coming-of-age story set in 1999 upstate New York, focusing on obnoxious 17-year-old Tabitha Scales, and Jeremy Carr, a musician and director of the local Catholic church choir. Tabitha becomes the caretaker of her devoutly Protestant mother, Leontina, after she takes a nasty bump on the head and transforms into a foul-mouthed, helpless stranger. Jeremy, meanwhile, hopes an upcoming music gig in New York City will give him what it takes to leave Thebes--and former flame Willem Handelaers, now happily married with children--in the past. Jeremy's longing for Willem is heartbreakingly conveyed, as is Tabitha's rushed maturity and yearning for a man she later learns is engaged to a woman in Jeremy's choir. In conversations and their inner lives, Maguire's characters philosophize about faith, religion, acceptance, and desire in a way that never feels forced or preachy, and though cutesy at times, Maguire's humor buoys the darker story lines and keeps this winning story on track. (Oct.)Ann Patchett
"Reading The Next Queen of Heaven is like hanging on to the back of an out-of-control carnival ride—terrifying, thrilling, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure."Washington Post
"A delight. . . . [A] funny and warmhearted exploration of the sacred and the profane."Los Angeles Times
"Comes alive in many dimensions, many of them funny and slightly bonkers."Library Journal
Originally published in 2009 as a limited-edition book by Concord Free Press for charity, Maguire's (Wicked) latest takes on religious life in rural upstate New York. Leontina Scales, thrice-divorced single mother of three teenagers, is a faithful member of the Cliffs of Zion Radiant Radical Pentecostal Fellowship, which shares a parking lot with the Catholic church next door. When she tries to borrow some milk from the church kitchen, she gets hit on the head by a decommissioned statue of the Virgin Mary, and all hell breaks loose for her family. Meanwhile, gay Catholic music director Jeremy Carr ends up befriending a bunch of ancient nuns at Our Lady of the Sorrowful Mysteries cloister. By turns serious and hilarious, this novel is classic Maguire despite its "real-life" setting. His take on the Radiant Radicals is a bit irreverent, but he shows sympathy for the Catholics in the story, particularly the elderly cloistered nuns.Verdict Recommended for readers interested in religious commentary with a sense of humor and Maguire fans not wedded to the fantasy genre. [The nonprofit Concord Free Press (www.concordfreepress.com) does not sell but gives away its books and encourages purchasers to donate to their favorite charity.—Ed.]—Nancy Fontaine, Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NHKirkus Reviews
A fitfully funny and adventurous experiment from the author of Wicked (1995).
This strangely compelling religious farce originated much differently than the fantasy novels that characterize the work of Boston-based novelist Maguire (A Lion Among Men, 2008, etc.). This peculiar novel was originally born as a limited-edition paperback offered by Concord Free Press, the publisher that gives books away for free. Now Harper has given a second lease on life to this familial dramedy about a rebellious daughter, her devoutly religious mother and the bump on the head that turns their small town into a bit of a circus. Maguire's main prism on small-town life in Thebes, N.Y., is Tabitha Scales, a teenaged girl with a reputation as the town slut. In fact, she appears so regularly in the town jail that the police have let her decorate her own cell. "Thebes was so lame it might as well be amputated," she muses. Her mother is the long-suffering Leontina Scales, "a middle-aged pillar of the Radical Radiant Pentecostals (Also Republican, with some standards)." But things take a turn when a statue of Our Lady with a Chip on Her Shoulder falls over, bashing Leontina upside the skull and causing her to erupt in foul-mouthed tongues, espousing things like "Am of God, who takes away the sins of the world. So you: shut up." It seems that everyone in town is concerned with God's plans. Meanwhile, young, gay choir director Jeremy Carr is dealing with his own struggles, which include mourning a broken love affair with Willem Handelaers. Meanwhile, the Radical Radiants threaten war with the local Catholic Church.
Certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but an unfamiliar treat for those who like their comedy laced with a touch of satire.