A Texas pastor has a million reasons to go... and just one to stay: her

A deadly epidemic threatens the lives and sanity of a Civil War veteran and his family in this “new masterpiece of American literature” (Dennis Lehane). Set in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town’s residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen, Friendship’s sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed by the fear and anguish around him, and his sanity begins to fray. Dark, poetic, and chilling, Stewart O’Nan’s A Prayer for the Dying examines the effect of madness and violence on the morality of a once-decent man. Praise for A Prayer for the Dying New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year “A Prayer for the Dying reads like the amazing, unrelenting love child of Shirley Jackson and Cormac McCarthy. It’s twisted proof that God will do worse to test a faithful man than the devil would ever do to punish a sinner.”―Chuck Palahniuk “O’Nan again proves himself a writer of dazzling virtuosity and imagination. . . . A mesmerizing story and a brilliant tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

To save a sick, orphaned boy, Anna Freeman must risk her own life. Little Paulo desperately needs a new heart. It's his only Christmas wish—well, that and building his first snowman. For the surgery, Anna must take him to a hospital in the city she once called home. A place she fled in fear years ago. Which means telling Dr. Lucas Bennett that the woman he's known all this time as a caring orphanage worker is really someone else. Someone with a very frightening past. And that the danger stalking all of them won't take Christmas Day off.