Amanda Leduc's brilliant, genre-bending and apocalyptic novel, woven with fairy tales of her own devising and replete with both catastrophe and magic, is a vision of what happens when we ignore the natural world and the darker parts of our own natures.Heather is sleeping peacefully after the birth of her twin daughters when the sound of the world ending jolts her awake. Stumbling outside with her babies and her new husband, Brendan, she finds that their city has been destroyed by falling meteors and that her little family are among only a few who survived.But the mountain that looms over the city is still green—somehow it has been spared the destruction that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Heather is one of the few who know the mountain, a place city-dwellers have always been forbidden to go. Her dad took her up the mountain when she was a child on a misguided quest to heal her legs, damaged at birth. The tragedy that resulted has...

Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty?If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference."Leduc persuasively illustrates the power of stories to affect reality in this painstakingly researched and provocative study that invites us to consider our favorite folktales from another angle." —Sara Shreve, Library Journal

This is the story of two unlikely dreamers: Sam, a man who wakes up one day to find himself growing wings, and Lilah, a woman who has lost her brother to the streets of Vancouver. Sam finds himself falling away from the world as he grows feathers from his back, while Lilah makes her own subtle and terrifying transformation as she seeks sexual penance under the harsh hand of her boss. Sam and Lilah fall deeper into their separate spiritual paths, and the two hurtle closer and closer to a dark, unknown destiny, one that changes all that they know about life and pain, love and God, and how to find light in the most unforeseen places. Re-examining the traditional roles of priest and prophet, damned and divine, and creating something monstrous and exquisite, this well-crafted novel investigates the so-called truths behind religion and explores the intersection of pleasure and pain.Review"An utterly original and equally unsettling debut novel. . . . Amanda Leduc possesses a confident and mature voice, her sentences sparkling with intellect and wisdom. She has earned a place among my favourite magic realists: Marquez, Findley, Martel. This is a brave book." —Angie Abdou, author, The Bone Cage and The Canterbury Trail"A novel of infinite heart." —Bill Gaston, author, The Order of Good Cheer and The World"Amanda Leduc's writing is both divine and earthy. Humor and grace illuminate this smart novel about the complexities of human and not-so-human nature. It shines." —Emily Schultz, author, The Blondes"Amanda Leduc's daring debut tackles big questions about family, God, and the intersection between suffering and spirituality. In her search for answers, she looks unflinchingly toward the darkness as well as the light." —Trevor Cole, author, Practical Jean"Amanda Leduc has written a dark and ambitious novel, a story of tortured magic and transformation." —Deborah Willis, author, Vanishing and Other Stories"Sometimes, pain really does make us feel better. I think the idea of penance is one that Leduc handles incredibly deftly and intelligently, especially considering how complicated the idea is." —www.OpenBookToronto.com"Leduc has a knack for writing in the mode of lyrical realism (it's not an exaggeration to compare her abilities to those of Alice Munro or Douglas Glover)." —Quill & Quire (March 2013)"Amanda Leduc's The Miracles of Ordinary Men is fantastic realism, if there is such a thing - well, there is now. Like a waking dream, it has the capacity to seduce and surprise, and it exercises its option on both." —Andrew Pyper, author, The DemonologistAbout the AuthorAmanda Leduc is a writer who has been published throughout Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdon. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario.