Small Angels: 'A twisting gothic tale of darkness, intrigue, heartbreak and revenge' Jennifer Saint

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If the mood was right—if there was a clear moon and no call to retire early, maybe you’d go further: The forest holds onto its memories and the families that grew up on the edges are bound to its foreboding requirements, for thou shalt not fail to uphold thier promises. Its love runs so deeply, it does not ever let go. It keeps its stories and it remembers. In a hypnotic tale of sisterhood, first love, and hauntings, a wedding in a small English village stirs up unsettling magic and forces a troubled family’s secrets out into the open.

In terms of comparisons, this novel’s narration recalls Donna Tartt's 'The Little Friend', where all we witness is coloured through the psyche of a young female protagonist. I’d also recommend this to fans of Jeanette Winterson’s style (especially ‘The Daylight Gate’). ‘Small Angels’ gave me the same reading pleasure as Sarah Waters’s ‘The Little Stranger’ or 'The Paying Guests', particularly the tantalising section after Frances and Lilian have murdered Leonard and are awaiting the consequences. Surprisingly, I found myself also recalling the mood of Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’: there's something reminiscent of the scene during the inquest, where the second Mrs de Winter (and the reader) is full of the knowledge of what Maxim has done, and is humming with fright and dashing through consequences and alternative courses of action in her mind, to save him, before she faints. While the story itself is compelling, the way it’s told is not. I just couldn’t sink myself into it like I have other ghost stories and horror tales that have been released this year. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I absolutely loved this book. What would you call it? Folk horror, I guess. Or not quite horror - though there is some gruesome stuff and a fine evocation of dread. Dark folk fantasy?

So the premise of this book intrigued me as soon as I saw it as an August @bookofthemonth selection. Woods that are living? A bride in danger? A dead boy haunting those woods? Sign. Me. Up. Unfortunately though, this one felt a little too drawn out for me and I didn't really get overly interested until the very end. One of the great pleasures of Gothic fiction lies in its insistence that the past (to quote Faulkner) isn’t dead, it isn’t even past. In a Gothic novel, dark histories linger in gloomy castles, musty antiquarian bookshops, crumbling graveyards and dusty attics, just waiting to attach themselves to the living. I initially rated this as 4 stars but it's played on my mind a lot since I finished, and I decided I was being parsimonious. A twisting gothic tale of darkness, intrigue, heartbreak and revenge’ Jennifer Saint, author of ARIADNE This story of bewitchment and revenge weaves a spell over you, and won’t quite let go’ Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of PANDORA

Every family has its strange, painful place, Chloe had thought, just as every house has one drawer full of chaos, crammed with nails and knotted string, orphaned keys and half-burned candles." This beautifully written modern ghost story is an enchanting place to get lost.”—Danielle Trussoni, TheNew York Times Book Review Not bad. You always were a dab at a story. You should tell it to the trees, see what they make of it. The trees in the woods remembered; they could whisper to one another of things past and days long gone. They were hungry for human dramas, and they loved to hear stories from the village below."green on green for miles. Some nights, it was said, you might find yourself walking amongst trees that had fallen centuries before. My grandma, when she first met the man who would become my husband, said, “This one’s still too green,” meaning that he wasn’t quite finished ripening yet. Hadn’t quite grown all the way up yet. She was right. That’s how I feel about this book. It has the feeling of not quite being done. It still needs some time in the oven. Where Owen exceeds Emily Tesh’s achievement, is in the LGBT representation in ‘Small Angels’, which is rarefied and pitch-perfect. It’s impossible to overestimate the significance of the positive portrayal of lesbian relationships. Chloe and Sam’s wedding might supply the critical plot drive, but the heart of the novel is Kate and Lucia's story. Small Angels is everything a good Gothic novel should be - peopled with slightly larger than life characters, containing a love story robed in the borrowed trappings of horror, set in a place that's just not quite like the world we know but could very well exist in a hidden corner of it, and showing flashes of folk horror too as an added bonus. Small Angels is a gothic horror that tells the story of love, betrayal, sacrifice and loss through an essence that is otherworldly yet starkly human.

And to start, you feel bad for him, but as the book goes on and on…you start to resent him. You resent him badly. Because as a part of his haunting, he has held the Gonne family captive for hundreds of years. They live their entire lives around his happiness, making Harry-the-ghost pleased or content with their misery. It’s the Gonne family that are the other main characters of this story. Lucia, in particular, is one of the stars of the story. I think I saw this classified as a horror book somewhere, but I didn't get that. Is it a little eerie in parts? Sure, but horror seems a bit extra. This was well written and the story was decent but it never really grabbed me. By the end I was sort of skimming along. This beautifully written modern ghost story is an enchanting place to get lost.” —Danielle Trussoni, The New York Times Review This beautifully written modern ghost story is an enchanting place to get lost.”—Danielle Trussoni, The New York Times Book ReviewChloe has been planning her dream wedding for months. She has the dress, the flowers, and the perfect venue: Small Angels, a charming old church in the village where her fiancé, Sam, and his sister, Kate, grew up. But days before the ceremony, Chloe starts to hear unsettling stories about Small Angels—and worse, she begins to see, smell, and hear things that couldn’t possibly be real. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Stunning. Perfect for lovers of folklore and gothic fiction’ Elizabeth Lee, author of CUNNING WOMEN Tell it to the trees. This was once high praise in the village below the woods. It was what you might say at the close of a lively tale—told at dusk in late December, with a good fire snapping at the coals. The reason I say this is because there’s just so much going on in this book: non-linear timelines, shifting POVs, shifting of characters at the wheel, shifting of POVs within the same character’s section, and more. And yet, this book has very uneven pacing and I have a feeling that which character you like reading about most will be different for different readers (I liked reading Chloe’s POV the most, but someone else might like reading Kate the most). Usually, uneven pacing is a sign the book is either too long or that it’s too busy giving attention to some sections while not giving enough attention to others. Either way, it’s an editing issue.

A twisting gothic tale of darkness, intrigue, heartbreak, and revenge.”—Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne

This book was an unexpected burst of joy for me. It was a perfectly chilling and spooky (yet somehow cozy) fall read. It made me want to light a candle and make something warm to drink while reading it. Small Angels" is steeped in magical realism and hauntings, vivid imagery and foreboding darkness, beautiful prose and deep mystery. Small Angels simmers with menace and ancient fury, shot through with sorrow, compassion, and hope. Gorgeously atmospheric and gripping!” —Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne