The Ice Queen — Alice Hoffman

A woman who leads a quiet life, keeping other people at a cool distance, one day utters an idle wish to be struck by lightning -- and her wish is granted. Instead of killing her, this cataclysmic event marks a strange and powerful new beginning as the woman soon finds herself drawn into a passionate relationship with another survivor of a lightning strike, a mysterious stranger who harbors dark secrets. Their affair becomes the center of a riveting story of loss, love, and redemption, a novel that reveals Alice Hoffman at the very height of her powers.