*A dazzlingly inventive, mordantly funny masterwork by the author of Ragtime. A large, brass cross disappears from a Manhattan church, only to reappear on the roof of a synagogue. As the joint clerical investigation into the mystery deepens, more and more people are implicated in what may be the elusive prophecy of a new American culture. "Challenging and provocative... a brilliant mirror of our life and times."—Publishers Weekly