Celia Crotteau

Persephone Diverted Celia Crotteau

Anticipating a peaceful life after death, an intrepid nun is chagrined when St. Peter refuses her entry at heaven's gates. Instead, he charges her with returning to earth on a special mission. But before St. Peter can supply explicit instructions, Sr. Martha Louise is unexpectedly transported thirty years into the future, to a post-apocalyptic totalitarian state. She finds religion outlawed and humanity tottering on the brink of extinction, thanks to a mysterious despotic ruler, the Illustrious Innovator, venerated as a demigod. Not only must Sr. Martha Louise convince the Illustrious Innovator of the error of his ways, she also must deal with revolt, famine, plague, and myriad other catastrophes in a world rapidly descending into frenzied chaos. In a first-person account that mixes biting political satire, lighthearted supernatural realism, and grim noire fiction, Sr. Martha Louise relates her management of her unintentionally vague divine mission.