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.I really enjoyed this novel, and recommended it to my sister-in-law Sue as she is soon going to Venice, but as I hadn't finished it, (and she has a BC name but never uses it) she got another copy.
What do You think about Miss Garnet's Angel (2002)?
To be frank, I didn't like this book. The author writes patronisingly about elderly, single, retired women teachers and their feelings, emotions and experiences. You wouldn't have thought that Julia had had anything to do with young people the way the author makes her talk and interact with the twins. The story of Tobias and the angel is a separate one on its own and by interlacing it with the novel the device slows down the narrative.I almost gave up reading this novel but persevered out of a misplaced sense of duty. Although the book is set in Venice, there's no real sense of that magic place and you'd think the writer had just consulted a guide book although it seems she has visited often.
—Aimee Habibullah
I hated Julia during the first three quarters of the story, I just knew her to be so resentful of the world and reproaching of herself. What I mean is, she is so obviously introverted but she doesn't enjoy her own company! I perceive introverted people as proud and snobbish in a very good way, we're entirely thrilled of spending time alone (at least one type of introverted folks do) and keeping nice experiences to ourselves, but this woman can't bring herself to enjoy the beautiful place she's at, and she feels undeserving all the time. I'm not saying she should be completely ok having recently lost a good friend, she's grieving Harriet and I understand it, but that's precisely what makes me think she should enjoy being alone, or at leas allow herself to actually grieve her friend instead of pitying her own guts.What kept me reading is the fact that it is almost impossible for me to not finish a book, but then the story took all sorts of strange twists, that I just couldn't help but for almost enjoy myself in the last 100 pages. Plus, she mentions Harriet's cat a few times, and Tobias's story is nice.
—Rita
Miss Garnet's Angel began promisingly. The bereavement of a close friend and the move to Venice seemed like the start of something very exotic. I've been to Venice and read up on some of it's history so I was keen to see what strangeness Salley Vickers would brew up. Dark intrigue and who knows what. The descriptions took me back to that fantastic city and I was always eager to see where Julia would wander next. I liked the way Salley put Julia's life together and built up a picture of what those relationships were like. I also liked the backstory of Tobias and Tobit and Sara. Unfortunately I don't think the two stories knitted together very well, especially as the modern day plot with Toby and Sarah ended long before the end of the book.Unfortunately this book is likely to disappear out of my life without leaving a ripple. It failed to move me on any emotional level. There was no one in it whom I particularly liked; Julia herself caused me some annoyance. There was no one to hate and no moments of mild concern, let alone full-on peril. (view spoiler)[Tobias' wedding night was the only contender and that was over very quickly. I don't understand why the girl Julia met on the train journey back from Devon made such an impact on her. (hide spoiler)]
—Philip Dickinson
