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Miss Garnet's Angel
 
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Miss Garnet's Angel (Paperback)

by Salley Vickers (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; New edition edition (2 Jan 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006514219
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006514213
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 789 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > V > Vickers, Salley
    #98 in  Books > Fiction > Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
There is something very old-fashioned and reassuring about Sally Vickers' novel Miss Garnet's Angel. The themes, self-discovery and redemption have the air of a bygone age, despite the novel being set in contemporary Venice in a world of holiday apartment lets and Pizza Express-funded restoration works. Julia Garnet is a middle-aged woman who has been practising economies of the spirit for years. Hers is a closed-in world, dusty with Marx's theories and when her friend and flatmate of 30 years dies Julia decides to spend the six winter months in Venice to recuperate from her loss. Miss Garnet is a dignified, brusque heroine and Sally Vickers' prose is likewise unruffled and controlled. Miss Garnet's epiphanies are as quiet and subtle as the "oro pallido" (pale gold) light in early Italian Art because, of course, art plays a part in this Venetian tale of emotional reawakening. Julia is moved by the depiction of Raphael in Guardis Tobias and the Angel: "something rusty and hard shifted deep inside Julia Garnet as she stood absorbing the vivid dewy painting and the unmistakable compassion in the angel's bright glance." She falls in love with Carlo, an art historian with crinkly eyes, white hair and a moustache. There are trials and tribulations to be undergone, Julia must unlearn all her old regimented ways of life, and this brings about heart ache and hurt. However, Vickers handles this with delicate sympathy, giving Julia Garnet a new sensitive view of the world, and the reader a resonant story of transformation. --Eithne Farry --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
'Subtle, unexpected and haunting.' Penelope Fitzgerald 'Very kind, very funny.' John Bayley 'Writes like a haunted angel.' The Times 'Rich, complex and haunting!she makes the ancient story as riveting as Miss Garnet's own adventures.' Sunday Times 'The sort of novel I really enjoy.' John Bayley Reveals itself as a surprising exploration of the mysteries of imagination and faith.' Joanna Trollope, Daily Telegraph, Book of the Year 'A refreshing, gentle story.' Anita Brookner, Spectator, Book of the Year 'A subtle, witty tale.' John de Falbe, Spectator 'Delightfully affecting.' Julia Neuberger, Independent, Book of the Year 'Destined for a long life.' David Sexton, Evening Standard, Book of the Year 'If you like Penelope Fitzgerald or Barbara Pym, try Salley Vickers.' Sunday Telegraph 'Original and delightful.' Woman's Journal

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Customer Reviews

41 Reviews
5 star:
 (18)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (6)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (41 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars reader from guildford, 11 Jul 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Miss Garnet's Angel (Hardcover)
A gentle and thought provoking read.

Miss Garnet's journey of personal discovery set amidst the beautiful and ethereal background of Venice is for readers who enjoy a period of reflection at the end of their read. The parallel story of Tobias and the Angel is a very clever and effective literary device which I'm sure the sensitive reader will appreciate.

Miss Garnet's utilitarian approach to life is held up for scrutiny. In the religious and atmospheric location of Venice her life's 'standards' seem trivial. It is her in her retirement that she looks back on her strictly secular life as a spinster and school-teacher in West London. The story of Tobias and the Angel make her question her previous behaviour towards her friends (Harriet, her live-in friend, in particular), and also towards her pupils.

Read this with an open mind and you will love it.

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars a new take on death in Venice, 20 Oct 2005
Following the unexpected death of her friend, Miss Garnett starts a new life in Venice - at an age when most would be settled and unchangable.
She is transformed by the beauty of her new surroundings, and sheds the inhibiting skin of her old life.
It is wonderful to read a story centred around someone over retirement age, that is not bleak, but life affirming.
The story has a number of unexpected turns, with several finely drawn characters, and a depth of history founded on the Book of Tobit.
Only one character - Toby - diappoints, with unconvincing description and dialogue.
This book is worth reading more than once, and would be a wonderful choice for taking on holiday to Venice.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, 15 Jul 2004
By A Customer
I didn't know what to expect from Miss Garnets Angel, I half anticipated an antiquated read, fairly stereotypical but potentially heart-warming. An old lady, art and Venice suggested to me a sedate book, good to read but nothing new. The reality was very different.
The subtlety and delicacy of the writing, the way the story is so well crafted, the strands of the older Tobias story woven in seamlessly stunned me. Salley Vickers does indeed eulogise over art and architecture but she's also not afraid to add a harsher realism to the story. Miss Garnet is not some ephemeral creature steeped in a life of sorrow she's a real, solid character.
This was a book I read slowly so as to not miss anything, I set aside time in the day to read it and made sure everything was quiet. Usually I snatch at books and gulp them down, taking every opportunity to read but I found I didn't want to with this book.
The quiet sadness of Miss Garnet, the lyrical descriptions of the paintings and Venice and the poignant and well-crafted ending make this a gem of a book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars You will want to go back to Venice! great book
Miss Garnett's Angel is set in Venice and this wonderful city provides the backdrop to the book. The story is based around Julia's visit (Miss Garnet)to Venice following her close... Read more
Published 3 days ago by MrsMac

4.0 out of 5 stars A lesson in life
This book leads your through Miss Garnets life. It is inwoven with the story of Tobias & the Angel, descriptions of Venice & how Miss Garnets comes to realise that her life has... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Pat Walden

4.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric
This book was recommended and loaned to me during a trip to Venice with friends and family. A very atmospheric book of Venice, well described (we did visit the Church mentioned)... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lucy

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad book, just very very dull, the author tried too hard to be fanciful
This was a book I read for a book club, and being a book I would not have normally chose was looking forward to something different. Someone I know (and trust! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ms. L. M. Thatcher

4.0 out of 5 stars V. original, I enjoyed this book...
This was the first Sally Vickers book I read, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was really easy to read, an interesting and very original story, with a brilliant... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lulushka8

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing story
We all borrowed this and read it a few years ago, and greatly enjoyed it. I remembered it again whilst browsing in the airport bookshop on the way to Venice and bought a copy to... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jeremy Walton

5.0 out of 5 stars Art, Venice and mid-life self-discovery - a refreshingly different novel.
`Death is outside life but it alters it: it leaves a hole in the fabric of things which those who are left behind try to repair.' Thus opens the novel. Read more
Published 9 months ago by S. Barnes

4.0 out of 5 stars Please don't be put off !!! A wonderful book.
If I had read these reviews before buying this book, I probably wouldn't have bought it!! I read this as it was lent to me by a friend, and it got me back to into reading again... Read more
Published 11 months ago by ~ Bookworm ~

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, beautifully written
I was captivated from the beginning. Sally Vickers' writing brought the initially unprepossessing Miss Garnet to life, and delicately illustrated her transformation. Read more
Published 13 months ago by bookbee

5.0 out of 5 stars Evocative, spellbinding and erudite
Do not be put off by the reviewers here who, while entitled to their opinions, clearly fail to grasp the deeply poetic timbre of Salley Vickers' voice and extraordinary... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Hestia

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