Miracles are notoriously unreliable. But sometimes, just when they’re needed, they turn up – although not always in the form that we expect.
Awkward, hapless Marick is still struggling with the loss of his wife, his child and his faith when he is reluctantly thrust into the position of chaplain at a large public hospital. Shortly after arriving, he meets Hugo, a hospital scientist and a man almost as lost as Marick himself, who is working in a forgotten lab, deep in the subterranean realms of the hospital. Hugo is convinced that the bacteria he uses for protein production have begun to produce gold. Is it alchemy, evolution, a hoax or even, possibly, a miracle?
In the meantime, Christmas is approaching, the number of homeless outside the hospital is increasing, the Director of Operational Services is pressing Marick about his weekly KPIs, you can’t buy chocolate in the hospital shop anymore and Marick keeps waking with nightmares at 4am every night. If ever a miracle was needed, it’s now.
Michelle Johnston is an author and an emergency physician who works in a Perth hospital. Her debut novel Dustfall was shortlisted for the MUD Literary Prize in 2019. Her second novel, Tiny Uncertain Miracles, is an incredibly assured work of fiction that once again takes place in a location Johnston knows all too well– a hospital.
Tiny Uncertain Miracles is an unusual story for a hospital based novel, in that it doesn’t focus on medical procedures, surgeons or nurses. The quirky protagonist Marick becomes a chaplain at the hospital and develops relationships with those who often go unnoticed, like scientist Hugo. Johnston poses thought-provoking questions about Marick’s faith, relationships and whether we can believe in miracles. Flashbacks to his married life, before he tragically lost his daughter, are heart-wrenching and poignantly portrayed. Ultimately, Johnston will have you cheering for Marick through all the ups, downs and mundanities of life.
A tender, sweet, sad, gritty, slyly funny and unexpectedly uplifting novel about family, friendship, faith, love and alchemy, Tiny Uncertain Miracles is a hopeful and luminous gift to all readers.
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