Barbara Hall

Charisma: A Novel Barbara Hall

In the aftermath of a violent incident and near-death experience, Sarah Lange is plagued by heavenly voices and dogged by a desire to return "home" Frightened by her desire to terminate her existence on earth, she checks into a trauma center in Malibu, California, and meets Dr. David Sutton, an intellectual, scientist, reductionist, and someone who believes in nothing beyond his immediate experience. David's world is as divorced from mystery and magic as Sarah's is alive with and animated by it. Their sessions open up a dialogue about the separation of worlds-one easily defined and explained and one unknowable and waiting on the other side of human experience. Even as his faith in his profession fades, David struggles to bring his disturbed patient back to the real world. In a desperate effort to define herself, Sarah "escapes" and David must decide how far he is willing to go to save a patient, and ultimately, himself.