Stand Up

New York City, January 2026.Giulia Ferraro is seventeen. She spends her nights drawing horses-a habit born from eleven years in a wheelchair. One night she sets down her pencils.She stands up.She says the Virgin Mary appeared to her. Two sentences. One unfamiliar first name.The Vatican sends Father Damiano Valli. Fifty-one years old. Twenty years exposing false miracles. No exceptions. He comes to Little Italy searching for the flaw.He cannot find it.Rebecca Crane, a New York Times reporter, doesn't wait for Rome. She contacts independent experts on two continents. Their conclusions appear in The Lancet. They agree with Bellevue Hospital, the Lourdes archives, and MRI scans from 2015 to 2026:No known explanation.Meanwhile, Giulia waits to deliver a message. She has known since the first night who it is for. She is waiting until he is ready to hear it.This novel never tells you a miracle has happened.It gives you the facts.Then leaves you with the question." She wasn't trying to convince anyone. That's the most unusual thing about this case."- Phil Morrison