The Nimbus

Baird debuts with a caustic send-up of the campus novel centered on a divinity professor’s attempt to cash in on a strange phenomenon involving his toddler. Adrian Bennett’s two-year-old son, Luca, begins to exhibit a miraculous glow, as seen by Adrian, his thesis student Paul Harkin, and members of Luca’s medical team. Others can’t see “the nimbus,” as the glow comes to be known, including Luca’s mother—Adrian’s wife, Renata—nor can audiences at Adrian’s lectures on his Chicago campus, which doesn’t stop him from trying to profit from the subject. Paul hopes to exploit Luca, too, focusing his thesis on the nimbus. Renata, meanwhile, struggles with raising Luca and their older son during Adrian’s frequent absences, such as his trip to Texas to hobnob with a billionaire willing to throw money at Adrian’s school to research the phenomenon. Alum Warren Kayita jumps on the Luca bandwagon after learning the baby brings good luck, and tries to arrange for his loan shark to meet Luca in exchange for debt forgiveness. Baird’s satire takes no prisoners in its unflinching condemnation of those who hope for miracles while evading their day-to-day responsibilities. This packs a stinging punch. (June)