* Online content to create pre-awareness

In a hospital in a small New Mexico town, a father sits by the bed of his young son, who is in a coma. Outside, a group of locals gather to hold vigil for the boy, each drawn by their own reasons.

Every member of the group has their own story. There's Dannie, a 33-year-old woman, desperate for children, and fighting to salvage her relationship with her 20-year-old boyfriend. Then there's Cecelia - a musician who is grieving for a man who never knew he was the love of her life. And then there's Mayor Carbrera - half-heartedly trying to keep the town afloat, and holding out hope that a religious cult will move in and become the answer to all his problems.

Hugely acclaimed when published in the US, A Million Heavens is an extraordinary novel by one of the most promising young American authors.

"[John Brandon] deftly renders a desert wilderness where human hearts are compelled to seek isolation from the pains of the world, but tend to find connectedness despite themselves" - Publishers Weekly

"A surreal exploration of the origin of inspiration, of what connects humans to each other and to their surroundings. ...Brandon's gift for conjuring a powerful sense of place has never been stronger as the high-desert sands invade every nook and cranny of the lives of his characters" - Booklist

"John Brandon is a great young writer who can - and probably will - do just about anything" - San Francisco Chronicle

"Wondrous... More than once I handed A Million Heavens to a friend and watched the rhythms compel him or her into the thickness of a paragraph, then onto the next page.... I had to stop reading to actually pace, marvelling at what one writer can imagine, what a novel is capable of holding" - New York Times Book Review

"John Brandon is my favourite new writer. This is a writer to watch, to reread, and to envy" - Tom Franklin

"The interplay of fantasy and reality permeating this lattice of storylines renders this a richly nuanced and multidimensional read" - The Lady