Mary-Margaret O’Reilly is a harmless young woman, perhaps overweight and a little slow, but diligent in her cleaning job at the Sacred Heart church in Battersea. She is especially drawn to a statue of Jesus on the cross, and one day she decides to give Him a thorough and loving clean.
But then something strange happens – moments later she is unconscious, a great gash in her head, blood covering the floor. Just before she fell, Mary-Margaret was convinced that the statue’s eyes opened… Word soon gets out that a miracle has occurred and a crowd descends on the quiet church. This event will have a profound effect on the small but loyal band of parishioners. Father Diamond is in the midst of a crisis of faith; Alice Armstrong is anxiously awaiting the return of her soldier son from Afghanistan; Stella Morrison is trapped in a soulless marriage and pines for her son who is at boarding school. In the meantime, Mary-Margaret goes back obsessively to the statue. He has told her things, duties she must perform, and urgently. The act she decides on is a shocking one…
