The Miracle

By: Irving Wallace

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Thousands of desperate people are drawn to Lourdes and its renowned Grotto when the Vatican announces that the Virgin Mary will perform another miracle cure there. Their lives are at stake... but will a miracle really occur?

Irving Wallace, author of The Word, The Man, and The Prize, focuses on an eclectic group of pilgrims at the site of the Virgin Mary's legendary appearance: Ken Clayton, a young American who gives up medicine in hope of a spiritual cure; his fiancée, Amanda, a psychologist; a powerful Russian official who must keep his dangerous visit a secret; Hurtado, a Basque terrorist to whom the Grotto symbolizes repression; Liz Finch, a cynical journalist; Kleinberg, a Jewish doctor; Edith Moore, an English woman who is thrust into the limelight because of her own recovery; and Gisele, whose ambition is not to reach Lourdes but to escape it.

This is novel of mystery, faith, blackmail, love, and violence, encasing the fascinating story of Bernadette, the young French peasant girl who first saw Mary at the Grotto in 1858. The subject is thought provoking. The climax is surprising.

©2005 Irving Wallace (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Exciting and cleverly plotted...the extraordinary tension builds during the countdown to the Reappearance." (Publishers Weekly)

Great Story for Believers and Non-Believers

What did you love best about The Miracle?

The story could have been pretty mundane, but the way Irving Wallace presents the various layers of reasons for and against the possibility of this miracle at Lourdes, as well as including a love story, terrorism and the news interest, this subject keeps it moving right along. He perfectly ties it all together in the end while making you think about this event even after you are done with the book. I am surprised the ratings haven't been that great. All Catholics and anyone that believes in this miracle should read this book. It is very informative and is not biased. Irving Wallace is one of the great authors of the 1960's-80's.

What did you like best about this story?

The way Mr. Wallace tackles this controversial subject and yet tells a great story.

What aspect of Luke Daniels’s performance would you have changed?

He narrated this book a bit slow, but after about 30 minutes I was used to it. I don't think this aspect should keep you from getting the book.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending is great and ties the story together perfectly.

Any additional comments?

Any book from Irving Wallace is worth listening to or reading. He would tackle subjects of interest in his own terms and was not afraid to go to the extremes whether it is sex, religion or politics.

Bernadette of Lourdes Controversy Revisited

Many people have read or seen the movie of "Song of Bernadette", but this is a new take on the Saint who saw the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France.

Written from a modern viewpoint, Wallace recreates the history and controversy that surrounded the appearance of Mary and the life of Bernadette. It's inoffensive even to staunch believers, but presents the viewpoints in a human way through the venue of a novel.

An excellent and entertaining listen.

Excellent overlooked book.

I read this book as a teenager and was excited to happen to see it in an audiobook book. It was just as good as I remember. Not a hard listen but a great combination characters from different backgrounds all looking for their own Miracle as their last hope.

good idea, tedious dialogue

I tried to read Wallace novels decades ago because I liked his themes, but found the books too wordy. I thought audio might put life into them, but this one is so slow and wordy and repetitive, it's like the novel missed the editing process. It sounds like an awkward first novel, not an end of career work.

Sometimes dated background --like the Cold War --can add interest to an older novel, but not in this case. The narrator does not have a great range for accented English voices either. Life is too short for prose this bad and dialogue so tedious.

If there is an Irving Wallace revival afoot (I think he wrote some good novels and may have been ripped off a bit by Dan Brown), please produce abridgements!

I dislike reviews written by readers who haven't finished the audiobook, but I'm guilty of that here. After multiple tries, I can't get past hour 4 of 16.