Autumn Reads...

Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers- 4 stars ****

This book was a good holiday read, as it had an intriguing plot, but wasn't really complicated and the characters were relateable. It tells the story of Julia Garnet, a middleaged woman who moves to Venice after her best friend and roommate Harriet dies. Having been a very solitary creature throughout her life, Julia learns about love the hard way, and experiences for the first time what it is like to have friends and a social life.

What sets this book aside are the religious aspects to it. After meeting a pair of twins restoring a chapel dedicated to the Archargel Raphael, Julia, a stout communist, undergoes a change of heart and becomes fascinated with the story of Tobias from the Apocrypha, a collection of Jewish scriptures. Her attitude to religion at the beginning of the book is very apparent, 'It might be a relief to confess her faults but she certainly did not want to confess them to an ugly puppety man in a coffin-like box. She sat on the column base in the golden gloom amid the hushed shuffle and the sense of her despair and loss and her own ultimate irrelevance.'

Salley Vickers very cleverly links the two stories together, by each chapter being split into halves; the first being seen through Miss Garnets' eyes, and the latter half telling of the journey that Tobias took in the words of his father Tobit. Not being overly familiar with religious stories, I enjoyed learning something new from reading this novel and especially liked the modern twist that the tale was given. As it all clicked together at the end, as a reader I became aware of hints throughout that had all pointed to the conclusion that became apparent upon finishing the book. I particularly liked the character of the Monsignore, who helps Julia to understand things about herself when she doesn't know where to turn, as well as confessing some secrets of his own. I enjoyed his quote about matters of the heart: 'The heart is a breeder of embarrassment. But we are all of us imbeciles in that area, that you can rely on. We all at times put up our hands before our cheeks in shame'

The descriptions of the scenery really made you feel as though you could see through Julias' eyes, 'the two stone wellheads; the unpromising- looking trattoria, where the fish was some of the best in Venice... the balconies with their humble adornments of washing and geraniums. And presiding over it all, the dignified, crumbling presence of the chiesa.'

I would recommend Miss Garnet's Angel to anyone who has a bit of time to spare (it is nearly 400 pages long!) and wants a challenging read that depicts a beautiful image of life in the Italian city of Venice, as well as an unusual take on a biblical fable.