Janette Jenkins

I'm still not sure what to make of this novel, which is part aga saga, part romance - and mostly depressing. Beatrice, the angel of the title, marries a well-to-do Englishman and leaves behind her secret life in New York. When war breaks out and her husband leaves for the Front, Beatrice is left to fend for herself in his claustrophobic Lancashire village with a gaggle of jealous harpies, determined to find out the truth about the foreigner in their midst. The characters are all slightly cliched, but Beatrice is pleasant enough - she comes across more as a free spirit from the Summer of Love than a woman from the time of the Great War, whatever her upbringing, but she's sympathetic, especially compared to the old boots she tries to make friends with in Anglezarke.

The story sort of meanders back and forth between wartime in the UK and Beatrice's previous life in the States, with the flashback chapters written in various styles, such as '10 things ...' lists. I was fairly bored to begin with, I must confess, not understanding where the plot was leading, if anywhere. There are a couple of startling events, but nothing for Beatrice to 'overcome' in the end, which might be frustrating for some, but was actually refreshing for this type of novel.

I did enjoy the descriptions of Brooklyn and Coney Island, which was primarily why I chose this book, but compared to the drama of Beatrice in New York, the chapters in Lancashire feel unreal and fall horribly short, which is perhaps the intention (even though the author is from Bolton). I wish Beatrice had dropped her cardboard husband into the Atlantic and stayed in the States, but hey ho.… (més)