Bawdy Madonna — Kathleen MacArthur

Angie Lanier, the heroine of Kathleen MacArthur's new novel, travels a world away from her Midwest background, where she absorbs a mysterious spell cast upon her by a Balinese priest. Her efforts to learn more about her father prompts flashbacks of her confusion between the values of her modest mother and her outrageous grandmother. Angie's relationship with a free-spirited young congressman, the idol who dominated her childhood fantasies, is immediately jeopardized when she meets a highly principled and compassionate Oxford don. She experiences a life very different from her promising career as a society tattler for a Washington D.C. magazine. With wry insight and moments of randy sex, MacArthur invites her readers to share Angie's efforts to resolve the challenges imposed by the 60's sexual revolution, plus her discovery of a horrific family secret. The novel also includes some not so subtle hints of reincarnation.