Bartholomew Lampion is born in Bright Beach, California, on a day of
tragedy and terror, when the lives of everyone in his family are
changed forever. Remarkable events accompany his birth, and everyone
agrees that his unusual eyes are the most beautiful they have ever
seen.
On this same day, a thousand miles away, a ruthless man learns that he
has a mortal enemy named Bartholomew. He doesn't know who Bartholomew
is, but he embarks on a search that will become the purpose of his
life. If ever he finds the right Bartholomew, he will deal mercilessly
with him.
And in San Francisco, a girl is born, the result of a violent
rape. Her survival is miraculous, and her destiny is mysteriously
linked to the fates of Barty and the man who stalks him.
At the age of three, Barty Lampion is blinded when surgeons
reluctantly remove his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer.
As the growing boy copes with his blindness and proves to be a prodigy,
his mother, an exceptional woman, counsels him that all things happen
for a reason, that there is meaning even in his suffering, and that he
will affect the lives of people yet unknown to him in ways startling
and profound.
At thirteen, Bartholomew regains his sight. How he regains it,
why he regains it, and what happens as his amazing life unfolds results
in a breathtaking journey of courage, heart-stopping suspense, and high
adventure. His mother once told him that every person's life has an
effect on every other person's, in often unknowable ways, and Barty's
eventful life indeed entwines with others in ways that will astonish
and move everyone who reads his story.
