What in God's Name: A Novel - Couverture souple

God decides to close up shop on Earth -- unless two idealistic angels can make a miracle happen
Welcome to Heaven, Inc., the grossly mismanaged corporation in the sky. For as long as anyone can remember, the founder and CEO (known in some circles as "God") has been phoning it in. Lately, he's been spending most of his time on the golf course. And when he does show up at work, it's not to resolve wars or end famines, but to Google himself and read what humans have been blogging about him.

When God decides to retire (to pursue his lifelong dream of opening an Asian Fusion restaurant), he also decides to destroy Earth. His employees take the news in stride, except for Craig and Eliza, two underpaid angels in the lowly Department of Miracles. Unlike their boss, Craig and Eliza love their jobs - uncapping city fire hydrants on hot days, revealing lost keys in snow banks - and they refuse to accept that earth is going under.

The angels manage to strike a deal with their boss. He'll call off his Armageddon, if they can solve their toughest miracle yet: getting the two most socially awkward humans on the planet to fall in love. With doomsday fast approaching, and the humans ignoring every chance for happiness thrown their way, Craig and Eliza must move heaven and earth to rescue them - and the rest of us, too.

"'Like Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Rich drags heaven down to Earth... Rich knows how to balance the smart with the funny' (New York Times Book Review) 'One of the best American comic novels of the past few years' (Michael Schaub, NPR) 'Divinely funny' (Vanity Fair) 'One of the funniest writers in America... feels like a little love letter to the world' (Daily Beast)" --Daily Beast

'Like Kevin Smith's Dogma via Neil Gaiman's Good Omens, it takes a lovingly satirical swipe at religion' --Grazia