Choice of the Elect

Edmee lacks for nothing. Her adoring husband is a handsome and cosmopolitan engineer, they have two beautiful children, and they live a prosperous life in California. But all is not what it seems. Edmee is tortured by anxiety attacks. And her daughter Claudie shines with a disturbing inner knowledge.

Choice of the Elect follows Edmee through the seriocomic adventures that ensue when she deserts her husband. Edmee believes herself to be on a holy mission and over the years takes up with a series of mysterious lovers and finds success in Hollywood--all with Claudie in tow. Yet over time, Claudie rejects her, and Edmee comes to wonder whether this is tragedy or the price the holy must pay for being elect.

"I am devoted to Giraudoux's writing in the way that some people are Gaullists or vegetarians." --Mavis Gallant, New York Times Book Review