Falling Angels Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Falling Angels Book

In Falling Angels, Tracy Chevalier has combined a moving elegy to the lost innocence of the 21st century's grandmothers and great-grandmothers with a reminder of the strength and modernity of their aspirations and achievements. Maude and Livy are aged six in 1901, when Queen Victoria has just died and the whole country is in mourning. In 1910 they are almost young women who have experienced their own personal losses and belong to a generation who are no longer prepared to wear black for months to mark the death of Edward VII. Their families, the Colemans and the Waterhouses ("no relation to the painter"), meet in a graveyard beside their family graves. One has a large marble angel erected above it, the other an urn (an allusion more to the morbidity of a Victorian columbarium than the eternity of Keats' pre-Victorian "unravish'd bride of quietness"). Their choices of a monument to death seem to reflect their differing attitudes to life, but Chevalier makes clear that these two families are forever linked in their fates and aspirations. The story moves swiftly, switching to multiple narratives: young but quickly maturing Maude and Livy; the adult Colemans and Waterhouses; their servants; and Simon the gravedigger boy. Chevalier has chosen carefully who speaks when, and who, more importantly, keeps silent. Livy's little sister Ivy May is one of the most beguiling figures of the work, but is given only two sentences of her own (and those two bring a lump to the throat). Mrs Coleman's experiences with the campaign for women's suffrage are marginalised through silence; Maude and Livy tell instead of their reaction to the women's antics. And while Falling Angels may be a story of women, despite, or perhaps because of their exclusion from contemporary politics, Simon's observations are the most honest and revealing. Chevalier herself writes after the story's end that "the Acknowledgements is the only section of a novel that reveals an author's "normal" voice. Every character uses their "normal" voice in this novel, and Chevalier's own voice excels in ensuring that each one is unique (for example, everything is "delicious" for Livy), so that, like Mr Coleman mourning his daughter growing up, you will "miss her when she goes". --Olivia Dickinson Read More

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  • Amazon

    1901 was the year of Queen Victoria's death. The two graves stood next to each other, both beautifully decorated. The two families visiting the cemetery to view their respective neighbouring graves were divided more by social class than by taste. They would certainly never have become acquainted had not their two girls become best friends.

  • Play

    This is a sumptuous new look for the bestselling author of "Girl with a Pearl Earring". 1901 was the year of Queen Victoria's death. The two graves stood next to each other both beautifully decorated. One had a large urn - some might say ridiculously large - and the other almost leaning over the first an angel - some might say overly sentimental. The two families visiting the cemetery to view their respective neighbouring graves were divided even more by social class than by taste. They would certainly never have become acquainted had not their two girls meeting behind the tombstones become best friends. And furthermore - and even more unsuitably - become involved in the life of the gravedigger's son. As the girls grow up as the century wears on as the new era and the new King change social customs the lives and fortunes of the Colemans and the Waterhouses become more and more closely intertwined - neighbours in life as well as death.

  • TheBookPeople

    A sumptuous new look for the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. 1901, the year of Queen Victoria's death. The two graves stood next to each other, both beautifully decorated. One had a large urn -- some might say ridiculously large -- and the other, almost leaning over the first, an angel -- some might say overly sentimental. The two families visiting the cemetery to view their respective neighbouring graves were divided even more by social class than by taste. They would certainly never have become acquainted had not their two girls, meeting behind the tombstones, become best friends. And furthermore -- and even more unsuitably -- become involved in the life of the gravedigger's son. As the girls grow up, as the century wears on, as the new era and the new King change social customs, the lives and fortunes of the Colemans and the Waterhouses become more and more closely intertwined -- neighbours in life as well as death.

  • Foyles

    ‘Vividly imagined’ Sunday Telegraph‘Sex and death meet again in [a] marvellous evocation of Edwardian England’ Daily MailThe girl reminded me of my favourite chocolates, whipped hazelnut creams, and I knew just from looking at her that I wanted her for my best friend.Queen Victoria is dead. In January 1901, the day after her passing, two very different families visit neighbouring graves in a London cemetery. The traditional Waterhouses revere the late Queen where the Colemans have a more modern outlook, but both families are appalled by the friendship that springs up between their respective daughters.As the girls grow up, their world changes almost beyond measure: cars are replacing horses, electric lighting is taking over from gas, and emancipation is fast approaching, to the delight of some and the dismay of others…

  • Blackwell

    Will friendship overcome the social boundaries of Edwardian London in this bestselling historical tale perfect for fans of Audrey Niffenegger and Sarah Waters. Will friendship overcome the social boundaries of Edwardian London in this bestselling...

  • BookDepository

    Falling Angels : Paperback : HarperCollins Publishers : 9780007217236 : : 01 Apr 2006 : 'Vividly imagined' Sunday Telegraph 'Sex and death meet again in [a] marvellous evocation of Edwardian England' Daily Mail

  • 0007217234
  • 9780007217236
  • Tracy Chevalier
  • 3 July 2006
  • Harper
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 416
  • New edition
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