Miss Garnet's Angel

 

Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers was a bonus book as the library thrust it upon us! For some this was a book revisited, for others a new read. The book is based on Miss Garnet, a single, older woman who shared her flat in London with a female friend. On her friend's death, Miss Garnet is left some money and also a need for change. She embarks on a six month journey to Venice, which sees Miss Garnet come out of her shell and expose herself to new life experiences. The setting is of course a delight to read about and there are a handful of characters that play a part in changing Miss Garnet. The characters are rich and intersting, and not always easy to make sense of - probably because Miss Garnet doesn't have much relationship experience and so herself struggles to make sense of some of her interactions. The majority of us enjoyed the book, although some didn't get very far before giving up. It isn't fast paced, but there are sub plots that keep you turning the pages and Miss Garnet is a character one warms to.

 

What about the reference to angels in the title? One person suggested that the angels represent the people in her life - past and present.

 

We had a good debate about the ending - did Miss Garnet die or not?

 

In summary, a light, interesting read set in a beautiful location and based on a character that is of a different age to your typical 'heroine'.

 

Our original title for January had been Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes. The book is set in 1913 and tells the story of Elsa Pendleton, who travels from England to Easter Island with her husband, an anthropologist. It looks at how Elsa integrates with the islanders and focuses on some complex relationships.

Other books that we discussed (and this list should be long as we've just come out the other side of Christmas and Santa would know to leave the WBS Reading Group members lots of lovely new material!):

The Man who Forgot his Wife by John O'Farrell
The Hundred-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson and Rod Bradbury (this is selling for 20 pence as a Kindle edition at the moment)

The Black House by Peter May
Books by C J Sansom, who wrote Winter in Madrid, the Shardlake series and now Dominion.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (a bit easier to read than Wolf Hall)
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - also made into a television series.
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (which our reader found morally ambiguous)
The American Boy by Andrew Taylor (as an audio book)

We also talked about What Maisie Knew, the May title. Is that allowed?! The book has recently been made into a film, so hopefully someone in the group will get to see it in the coming months. This will be a libary copy but can also be downloaded for free onto Kindle if that is an option for you. Here's a review which Kathleen came across:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/sep/12/what-maisie-knew-review

We also discussed a few other recent films, including Les Miserables, The Impossible and Jack Reacher (and for those that read the book, no-one imagined the lead role being played by Tom Cruise!)

Next time:
The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh
6th March 2013