The Medal is a work of fiction and a novel that has its origin in an historical event, the death of Pope John Paul I. The narrator expects the blessing of the medal by the pope on the day before his untimely death to produce a particular result - the reunification with his estranged father. But two ladies of biblical fame, one he meets in Saks Fifth Avenue after Mass in St. Patrick's on a market trip to New York City, will send the narrator along a different path.