Miss Garnet's Angel

Rating:
Summary: Like the most beautiful piece of sparkling Murano glass...
Review: This is no hokey and banal Touched By An Angel melodrama, peopled (or angeled :-) with dubious beings who are anything but magical, but a serious and fine work that delves deeply into exotic religions (and the place of guardian angels in such religions) and art/art restoration/and art restorers, replete with enigmatic, enthralling characters and an intelligent albeit twisting plot. The other reviewers have supplied the high points of the story and summarized it, so what I have to add is that it gives exquisite pleasure to readers, much like the Murano glass manufactured in Venice gives pleasure to those who buy or view it. It shines, it sparkles, it's one of a kind...we know Miss Garnet so well by the time the tale is told...and we hate to lose her. This is an inspirational novel that will stick in one's imagination for a long time, and it's encouraging to know that this is Salley Vickers's first book. She can only get better and better. For those who welcome something out of the ordinary and who have an interest in myth, religion, art, magic, and the vulnerability and frailty of human beings just like us. Venice, that beguiling, mysterious city, is a character as much as anyone or anything else in Miss Garnet's Angel.

Rating:
Summary: A Book as Beautiful and Magical as Venice Itself
Review: What a joy to read this lovely book shortly after returning from a trip to Venice. Steeped in the art and history of Venice and in an obscure story from the Apocrypha, the novel is multitextural, haunting, and ethereal just like the serpentine streets of that most Serene of Cities. The subject matter sounds weighty but it is never dull. Elements of a mystery are part of this story of the spinster English school teacher Miss Jula Garnet who is changed forever by her stay in Venice and the people she meets there.I kept turning pages to find out what would happen next. Just a wonderfully literate,and thoughtful book. It will stay in your memory.