Lydia Millets chilling new novel is the first-person account of a young mother, Anna, escaping her cold and unfaithful husband, a businessman whos just launched his first campaign for political office. When Ned chases Anna and their six-year-old daughter from Alaska to Maine, the two go into hiding in a run-down motel on the coast. But the longer they stay, the less the guests in the dingy motel look like typical touristsand the less Ned resembles a typical candidate. As his pursuit of Anna and their child moves from threatening to criminal, Ned begins to alter his wifes world in ways she never could have imagined. A double-edged and satisfying story with a strong female protagonist, a thrilling plot and a creeping sense of the apocalyptic, Sweet Lamb of Heaven builds to a shattering ending with profound implications for its charactersand for all of us.