Rapture

First time parents Tim and Nicole give birth to a baby with a halo.

For a couple of atheists, it’s a bit of a shock.

In what should be the most auspicious moment of their lives, the couple find themselves scrambling for what to do next. When the child performs his first miracle, they realise they may well have the second coming on their hands.

As they go to ground to hatch a plan, their cover is blown, and the church is brought into the frame. But not before the leader of a fanatical religious sect catches  wind of their story and vows to have the child for his own.

With the church, the fanatical fringe, and even their own family wanting a piece of the new messiah, can Tim and Nicole find a way to bring God to the world without turning the exercise into a circus?

In his gripping and darkly comic debut novel, Stanford explores the fight for the ownership of God, and tries to imagine what the world would do if there really were a second coming.