“Angels of Destruction” doesn’t shrink from the tragedies and inevitable separations that dog us. The book’s coda is beautiful and wrenching, yet still leaves its protagonists and readers open to the possibility that the miraculous, once glimpsed, might recur. “Love is not consolation, it is light,” wrote Simone Weil. In these bleak times, we can thank Donohue for opening a door in a darkened room.

From its ominous first page to the tumbling blocks of its final chapters, Angels of Destruction is a masterfully paced thriller that reads like a fairy tale and tests the limits of fiction without ever losing believability.

But what if the angel that answers our deepest prayers has an agenda of her own? Margaret’s dream of family and Norah’s insistence on having her own way set up a dramatic collision that Donohue navigates deftly. With lush language and a rich emotional terrain to cover, Angels of Destruction is a dark but hopeful fable of family.