Skellig is an enigma, a timeless being with no beginning or end. Skellig appears to be part human and part angel, capable of working miracles. He has a worn and beaten exterior. Almond named him after a group of islands off the coast of Ireland called the Skelligs, one of which happens to be named Skellig Michael, or Great Skellig, and hosted a monastery in the twelfth century dedicated to St. Michael, the archangel and patron saint of high places. Almond mentions on his Web site that the term skell is a slang term for a homeless person, a fact he did not know until after the book was published.

When—or how, or why—he came to sit in the corner of the crumbling garage is never mentioned. He apparently left his nest occasionally when the previous tenant was alive because...