Anneliese Zahra Khalil

Ascension Anneliese Zahra Khalil

Joel Stevens wanted more than anything to die. In the middle of his suicide a passing vagrant, Donovan, intervenes. Through Joel's experience with his rescuer he realizes there is a literal alternative to death - ascension - the process of becoming an angel. Joel and Donovan's union is unbreakable, as Joel's ascension is entirely dependent on Donovan's guidance, who claims to be an angel. They become inseparable from their first meeting and swiftly invade Joel's home and marriage. Joel follows Donovan's instructions on several suicide attempts, devours his guide's philosophical prose, rids himself of his most loved possessions, and allows his marriage to fracture. Sarah, Joel's wife, desperately fights to release Donovan's hold on her husband. Is Sarah battling a sociopathic homeless man that is destroying her already unwell husband? Or is she up against a far more profound and powerful process? Even Sarah isn't sure...