Annunciation

'Good novels move, entertain, and teach us something about ourselves and the world. Ron Teachworth's The Annunciation give us all that in spades.' Kimberly Kafka, author (Niece of Franz Kafka) The Annunciation begins in Bucharest, Romania, during the mid 1990's. The secret, radical and conservative group, the Piagnoni, prepare their surrogate to assassinate Pope John Paul II. In Florence, Italy, a group of religious graduate students from Detroit have joined an Art Restoration Fellowship at San Marco convent, studying and assisting in the restoration of frescos by the famous painter Fra Angelico. Two young students in the fellowship, seminarian Finn McNelis and Felician sister Olivia Gianetti, fall in love, testing the commitment they made to their Catholic faith. Meanwhile, their most-liked professor worries about new evidence linking Leonardo da Vinci to the discredited Savaronola, a fanatic 15th century friar revered by the Piagnoni. When Pope John Paul ll visits the San Marco convent to view the newly restored Fra Angelico frescos, Finn heroically thwarts the assassination attempt. The Vatican rewards him with an attractive position, and he his forced to make life-challenging decisions.