Mary is a new mother transformed by the birth of her baby; Walter, a lonely gay Episcopal priest, privately struggles with his contradictory desires; and John, a monk who has left his monastery after fifteen years, craves intimacy with a woman. With mesmerizing prose, Darcey Steinke weaves together the lives of these three characters in ways that explore the intersection of spirituality and sexuality and reveal how even our rawest, most confused impulses may contain elements of the divine.
Praise for Milk:
"Steinke''s prose repeatedly hints at the divine in tangible things."-New Yorker "The characters in Milk form an erotic and spiritually enlightening threesome."-Vanity Fair "The conjunction of sex and the spirit, bodies and souls, is fascinating."-Washington Post "A lyrical and earthy meditation on the limits and glories of being human."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)