From Chapter 1

November 17, 1989

Dear Cardinal Lustiger, Your Eminence:

My name is Daniella Stonebrook Blue. I am-or was-by profession an

astronomer. We are strangers to each other. Your name was given to me by a

woman on a bus as we were traveling across New Mexico. Because of her

insistence, I am writing to you about this dark period of my life. I need to speak

to you about the matter of light.

Light is the alphabet of God. I knew this when I was born and then I forgot.

This is the first time I have understood it as an adult woman. Even as I prepared

to write these words, I didn't know what they implied until they appeared on

the page.