The Head of the Saint

Fourteen-year-old Samuel is newly orphaned and homeless in a small town in Brazil.

He lives in a giant hollow concrete head of St. Anthony, the lingering evidence of the village’s inept and failed attempt to build a monolith over a decade ago. He didn’t know what it was when he crawled into it, seeking shelter during a storm, but he hears beautiful singing echoing in the head like magic twice a day. So he stays.

Miraculously, he can also hear the private prayers and longings of the villagers. Feeling mischievous, Samuel begins to help answer these prayers. But he has a secondary motivation: he hopes that if he does, their noise will quiet down and he will be able to listen to the beautiful singing in peace. Ironically, his miracles gain him so many fans that he starts to worry he will never fulfill his own true longing and find the source of the singing.

Filled with beautiful turns of phrase and wonderfully quirky characters, *The Head of the Saint* is a riotous story of faith and magic that won’t soon leave your thoughts.