Miracle Cures: A Novel

A razor-sharp, blisteringly funny exploration of truth and belief in the face of misinformation, told through the eyes of a fact-checker at a celebrity wellness magazine, perfect for fans of Melissa Broder and Jen Beagin.When Nelly lands a job as a fact-checker at a glamorous media conglomerate, she’s certain that her life will finally begin. She’ll escape her mother’s grimy house in New Jersey, meet the man of her dreams, and maybe even secure employer-sponsored healthcare before her twenty-sixth birthday. Tasked with checking the company’s newest venture—a magazine spearheaded by a controversial actress turned wellness guru—it soon becomes clear that the magazine has very few facts to check. Nelly spends her days wading through pseudoscience, cold calling self-proclaimed animal psychics, and trying to resist the pull of shiny face creams and exotic essences that promise youth, inner glow, and an end to her chronic yawning. But after a health scare, Nelly starts to wonder if there might be something to the celebrity’s methods after all. She embarks on a quest to discover a miracle cure of her own, sampling somatic healing rituals and mysteriously addictive tinctures, letting manifestation mantras drown out the fact-checking red pencil in her head—until a shocking turn of events topples it all in one fell swoop. In an age of alternative medicine, establishment skepticism, and a collapse of the grey area between fact and fantasy, Miracle Cures is a hilarious look at the belief systems we build for ourselves—and what happens when they come crumbling down. Read more