Killing Joe Sabazius: A Different Sort of Love Story

After protagonist Calliope Braintree is forever changed in “To Hear the Rest More Clearly,” jumping off the page to become the author of her own life, she writes her magnum opus of anger and forgiveness, “Killing Joe Sabazius.” While no longer at the mercy of a rapist and able to live on her own terms, she still carries the trauma in her heart and mind. This work of fiction is how she works through that trauma to find her ability to forgive. Built around her long narrative poem, “River’s Song,” whose natural wisdom sparkles through on every page, it is the unlikely love story of Jane, a guilt-wracked murderess; the disembodied spirit of her rapist, Joe Sabazius; Israel, his newly reincarnated self; a crow named Loki; and Jake, a dirty cop.

Jane is a writer of edgy, award-winning children’s books. But all her best ideas come from Loki. When Loki brings her an image that is downright biblical in its depictions of death and mayhem, he also brings up all the chaos of her unresolved guilt, shame and fear. The problem of how to write this horrible story is tangled up with the problem of whatever it is Loki and her dead rapist are cooking up behind her back. Matters are further complicated by her twisted love affair with Jake, the cop who did not arrest her for her rapist’s murder. But problems are, of course, opportunities. And there is magic afoot.

Rape is unforgivable. And yet, paradoxically, the best way to recover one’s power and not be a lifelong victim is to navigate the rocky road to forgiveness.

Both a sequel and a prequel to “To Hear the Rest More Clearly,” this is a novel of extraordinary pain, even more extraordinary courage in the face of it, and ultimately—impossibly—joy and wonder beyond imagination.

(Adult language.)