Well, this is a conundrum: wtf have I just read?!
A public health official escapes the city after a Biblical apocalypse that has angels carrying out quasi-Stalinist purges. This narrative is bracketed by a mystical prose poem and a biographical essay on Hildegard. It sounds weird enough but felt oddly prosaic. Named as co-author, I expected more Hildegard. The *ideas* may be hers; perhaps I just wish she'd been allowed to articulate them herself.