The President's Angel

Burnham's bestselling nonfiction titles A Book of Angels and Angel Letters and her novel, Revelations , proved there is a craving for inspirational literature in a readership outside the confines of the ``religious'' audience. Her new novel, which she calls the third and last in her angel cycle, is both a fable/homily about the way to reach God and a polemic against the immoral use of power--both personal and political--to create conflict. It is set in a futuristic world ruled by two garrison states, the U.S. and the Enemy, aka the Eastern Orthodox, where military weapons are the major currency and the Barbarians on the borders are engaged in unceasing wars. When an angel appears in the White House bedroom of President Matthew Adams, the chief executive is almost unhinged. On the one hand, he wants to aspire to higher purpose. Yet he is committed to ingrained beliefs: ``People love to make war. It staves off boredom.'' Eventually, however, Adams is led to understand the power of prayer, and the novel ends with a glorious epiphanic vision. Burnham is a fluent writer who urges an ethic of individual choice and responsibility. If her short narrative will seem simplistic to some, others in need of spiritual sustenance may accept its transcendental message. (Oct.)