California Angel

In a surprising departure from her bestselling legal thrillers (Mitigating Circumstances, etc.), Rosenberg tells a warmhearted story of divine intervention and angelic miracles. Protagonist Toy Johnson is a charismatic teacher who insists on thinking positively about the futures of the underprivileged children in her inner-city school in Santa Ana, Calif. Though Toy is beautiful (she has ``flaming red hair''; her skin is ``as translucent as the finest silk'') and wealthy, she is unhappy: she has been unable to conceive, and her surgeon husband does not sympathize with her need to donate money to the needy families of her young charges. Idealistic Toy craves ``magic, miracles, overnight solutions.'' She has had this sense of mission since the day she suffered cardiac arrest, when she had a vision in which she helped an autistic boy. Now, having decided that she needs some space to consider a separation from her husband, Toy goes to New York, where she suffers recurrences of cardiac arrest, each time having vivid dreams of saving children from grave danger. Yet these children turn out to be real, and mounting evidence indicates that her lifesaving actions may occur during out-of-body astral projections. Soon Toy understands that she is an angel, deputized on missions of mercy. Rosenberg's fervid, exalted prose often soars to melodramatic heights, and her basic premise requires the same kind of belief that draws readers to The Celestine Prophecy. She eschews heavy-handed sermonizing, however, and intriguing plot twists keep the narrative moving briskly. Literary Guild main selection; audio rights to Penguin Highbridge; author tour. (Jan.)