Born in Sweetwater, West Virginia, with a mop of flaming red hair and a map of the world rendered in port-wine stains on every surface of her body, Garnet Ferrari is used to being an outcast. With her sharp tongue, she has always known how to defend herself against bullies and aggressors but finds she is less adept at fending off the pilgrims who have set up a veritable tent city outside her hilltop home, convinced she is Saint Garnet, healer of skin ailments and maker of miracles.
"With The Patron Saint of Ugly, Marie Manilla has written more than a novel: she's written what we used to call a tale. It's all here, folks, the whole world. How does Manilla write about God and history and love and loss and make it all so miraculously readable? How does she make this book so much fun, even as it breaks your heart? Beats me, but she did it. Plus which, anyone who can mention Budd
Daniel Wallace author of Big Fish
"Patron Saint of Ugly is as steeped in magic as one of Nonna's spells-it will make you laugh, fill you with wonder, and break your heart all at once. Garnet, the unwilling saint of ugly, performs miracles among a delightful cast of Italian witches, Southern families, and the deformed and injured who come in search of healing. But surviving her distressed family, and repairing her own broken soul,
