Jamesland*,* the buoyant second novel by Michelle Huneven,
critically acclaimed author of Round Rock, is a witty,
sophisticated, and deeply humane comedy of unlikely redemption.
When thirty-three-year-old Alice Black discovers a deer in her dining
room after fighting with her boyfriend, she wonders if she's going
crazy. Pete Ross, forty-six, knows he's crazy. He's wrecked his
marriage, slashed his wrists, and done time in a psychiatric
institution, and now he's being cared for by his mother, who's a nun.
Forty-five-year-old Helen Harland, a spirited Unitarian Universalist
minister, is being driven crazy by her hostile church administration.
Living in Los Feliz, California, the three meet at Helen's Wednesday
midweek services. Though initially incompatible, the sheer force of
Helen's idiosyncratic ministering (her "variety show of religious
experience")-paired with Alice's illustrious ancestor William
James-proves to be a catalyst for friendship and a kind of
transcendence. Generous and compassionate, Michelle Huneven delivers a
joyful new novel about love, faith, and a few wayward souls waiting for
life to begin.