Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (2002), Edition: First Thus, 416 pages
Description
Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML: In 1901 London, as the precise social order of the Victorian era winds down and the forward-looking Edwardian order takes wing, three strangers meet in the city's tony Highgate Cemetery. Beautiful Lavinia revels in the elaborate trappings of the past. Plain Maude strives to shape the future. Simon Fields, a boy their age, is bound by poverty and professional to the cemetery. As they explore the prejudices and flaws of a changing time, they bring their very different families together and ultimately discover that their fates are intertwined..
User reviews
LibraryThing member Dorritt
Ostensibly a work of historical fiction, period has little to do with this tale of how one woman's selfishness destroys everyone around her. Could as well have been set in present day (substitute Darfur for women's sufferage) as in past. Alas, human selfishness is eternal.
Gimmick of switching
Unfortunately, however, the author makes little/no effort to provide psychological foundation or cause for the flaws and faults that define them - a fatal flaw since this keeps the reader from being able to connect with any of the characters. As a result, when all the angels began to fall (eventually so many of them that I stopped counting), I had a hard time mourning their passing. I understood why they "had" to fall (which flaws destroyed them, and why it was thematically necessary for them to fall) - but I just didn't care.
In summary, couldn't help but feel that this author let herself be trapped by her gimmick and her story's title/theme into telling a story that was much smaller and shallower than it might otherwise have been.
Gimmick of switching
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narrators provides for readers the diversion of inferring each character's faults through the evidence of their own thoughts, perceptions, and self-justifications, which was enough fun to keep me reading. Unfortunately, however, the author makes little/no effort to provide psychological foundation or cause for the flaws and faults that define them - a fatal flaw since this keeps the reader from being able to connect with any of the characters. As a result, when all the angels began to fall (eventually so many of them that I stopped counting), I had a hard time mourning their passing. I understood why they "had" to fall (which flaws destroyed them, and why it was thematically necessary for them to fall) - but I just didn't care.
In summary, couldn't help but feel that this author let herself be trapped by her gimmick and her story's title/theme into telling a story that was much smaller and shallower than it might otherwise have been.
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
The story is set in Edwardian London between 1901 and 1910 and follows the interconnected worlds of two families. The Waterhouses are a conventional middle-class family and the Colemans are from a more privileged class. The two daughters from these families, Lavinia Waterhouse and Maude Coleman,
Chevalier rotates the narrative between the many characters, giving the reader a chance to see how everyone is affected by the decisions of others. Though the plot sounds simple enough, it's the characters I became attached to. Through their eyes we learn about the power of friendship, love, class distinctions, neglectful parenting, and so much more. It's by far my favorite from Chevalier.
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become friends despite their differences. Maude's mother Kitty sits at the heart of the novel. She's dissatisfied with her life and eventually gets involved with the Suffragette movement.Chevalier rotates the narrative between the many characters, giving the reader a chance to see how everyone is affected by the decisions of others. Though the plot sounds simple enough, it's the characters I became attached to. Through their eyes we learn about the power of friendship, love, class distinctions, neglectful parenting, and so much more. It's by far my favorite from Chevalier.
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LibraryThing member ImpudentAngel
This was a pretty good book with historical insight into post-Victorian England and the early days of the Women's Suffrage Movement. Interesting, multi-dimensional characters with depth, intrigue, secrets, and human imperfections who grow and change over time, for better and for worse.
LibraryThing member DubaiReader
Review for the Abridged Audio Book.
This is probably my favourite Tracy Chevallier book and I had read it in book form before listening to the abridged audiobook several years later.
It was beautifully narrated by Isla Blair and Jamie Glover and did not feel at all like an abridged version. Their
Centering around Maud and Lavinia, who meet on the day of Queen Victoria's death, we meet both families and households. Although there is a well depicted class difference between the families, the girls become best-friends.
Much of the action takes place in the cemetery, where Simon, the grave digger's lad and his father work. There are vivid descriptions of the cemetery, and death features largely as we move from mourning Queen Victoria to the death of her son and heir, Edward VII.
As the girls mature with the changing times, Maude's mother becomes involved with the Suffragettes and this is viewed from the many viewpoints of Chevalier's wonderful characters.
A wonderful book and brilliant audio CD. Recommended.
This is probably my favourite Tracy Chevallier book and I had read it in book form before listening to the abridged audiobook several years later.
It was beautifully narrated by Isla Blair and Jamie Glover and did not feel at all like an abridged version. Their
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two voices worked particularly well as the story is written in split narrative form and all the characters have a chance to speak, however briefly.Centering around Maud and Lavinia, who meet on the day of Queen Victoria's death, we meet both families and households. Although there is a well depicted class difference between the families, the girls become best-friends.
Much of the action takes place in the cemetery, where Simon, the grave digger's lad and his father work. There are vivid descriptions of the cemetery, and death features largely as we move from mourning Queen Victoria to the death of her son and heir, Edward VII.
As the girls mature with the changing times, Maude's mother becomes involved with the Suffragettes and this is viewed from the many viewpoints of Chevalier's wonderful characters.
A wonderful book and brilliant audio CD. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member susiesharp
This is the story of 2 girls growing up in the early 1900’s in London. Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse are unlikely friends they meet in a London cemetery, where their family plots are next to each other. Their families really have nothing in common and after their first meeting they don’t
her mother has discovered the suffragette movement and ends up in jail to the embarrassment of her entire family.Lavinia and her mother get along well although they seem to look down at others especially Maude’s mother Kitty. Kitty and her “radical” friends are preparing for the march to Hyde Park to promote a woman’s right to vote and so much goes horribly wrong that day that changes both families and the girls’ friendship forever.
I always enjoy stories about suffragettes and this was no exception. I did listen to this on audio and there was one thing that bothered me about the audio version of this book is that it is set in England and the narrator did not have an English accent, but that doesn’t have anything to do with my enjoyment of the writing/storyline of this book.
This was a well written story with fully fleshed out characters, there are a lot more stories going on than just the story of these two girls there is Simon the gravedigger, Jenny the maid and of course the mothers of these two girls.
I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction, suffragettes, and stories about friendship.
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see each other for awhile till they become neighbors and renew their friendship. Maude and her mother don’t always see eye to eye on things sinceher mother has discovered the suffragette movement and ends up in jail to the embarrassment of her entire family.Lavinia and her mother get along well although they seem to look down at others especially Maude’s mother Kitty. Kitty and her “radical” friends are preparing for the march to Hyde Park to promote a woman’s right to vote and so much goes horribly wrong that day that changes both families and the girls’ friendship forever.
I always enjoy stories about suffragettes and this was no exception. I did listen to this on audio and there was one thing that bothered me about the audio version of this book is that it is set in England and the narrator did not have an English accent, but that doesn’t have anything to do with my enjoyment of the writing/storyline of this book.
This was a well written story with fully fleshed out characters, there are a lot more stories going on than just the story of these two girls there is Simon the gravedigger, Jenny the maid and of course the mothers of these two girls.
I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction, suffragettes, and stories about friendship.
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LibraryThing member sarahfrierson
Falling Angels is Tracy Chevalier's (author of Girl With a Pearl Earring) glimpse into a changing English society during the decade between the deaths of Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. Through the lens of turn-of-the-century funerary tradition, she tells the stories of two neighboring families
The Coleman family and the Waterhouse family have adjacent cemetery plots and the reader quickly learns the differences between the two groups. The well-to-do, free-thinking Colemans have placed an elegant urn over their plot while the conventional Waterhouses have chosen a more sentimental angel. Although the families are quite different, they quickly find themselves true neighbors and their daughters, Maude Coleman and Lavinia (Livy) Waterhouse, become best friends.
Chevalier has a knack for intimating the voices of her characters. The story is told in a chronological fashion by each of the characters, including at times the cook, maid and gravedigger. Change and grief are explored, but more interesting are the resulting attitudes and desires that arise.
At its core, this is a novel about women, young and old. Some deal with change by grasping at tradition while others embrace new movements, such as women's suffrage. Despite their different characteristics and approaches, all eventually must travel the through the same turmoil and despair to get to the other side of the decade.
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during this decade in which both progress and changing morals and values caused much controversy.The Coleman family and the Waterhouse family have adjacent cemetery plots and the reader quickly learns the differences between the two groups. The well-to-do, free-thinking Colemans have placed an elegant urn over their plot while the conventional Waterhouses have chosen a more sentimental angel. Although the families are quite different, they quickly find themselves true neighbors and their daughters, Maude Coleman and Lavinia (Livy) Waterhouse, become best friends.
Chevalier has a knack for intimating the voices of her characters. The story is told in a chronological fashion by each of the characters, including at times the cook, maid and gravedigger. Change and grief are explored, but more interesting are the resulting attitudes and desires that arise.
At its core, this is a novel about women, young and old. Some deal with change by grasping at tradition while others embrace new movements, such as women's suffrage. Despite their different characteristics and approaches, all eventually must travel the through the same turmoil and despair to get to the other side of the decade.
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LibraryThing member riofriotex
A pretty wierd book set in England in the period from January 1901 (just after Queen Victoria's death) to May 1910 (just after the death of her son, King Edward VII), with lots of detail on mourning customs of the day.
LibraryThing member eas
10/06/07-11/06/07
Unlike Chevalier’s Girl With A Pearl Earring I could not put this book down. Written from the perspectives of the members of two families, their servants, friends and ‘the gravedigger’s son’ the book memorably evokes the atmosphere of middle-class Victorian London. The
Unlike Chevalier’s Girl With A Pearl Earring I could not put this book down. Written from the perspectives of the members of two families, their servants, friends and ‘the gravedigger’s son’ the book memorably evokes the atmosphere of middle-class Victorian London. The
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subjects raised range from attitudes to sex, children, womens’ suffrage, age and death. The plot intricately weaves through the lives of the families, drawing on current issues and events, highlighting the rapidity of changing attitudes and mores at the beginning of C20. Show Less
LibraryThing member nicx27
Strangely, this is my second attempt at reading this book. The first time round I couldn't get into it, yet the second time I loved it and rated it 5 stars. I suppose I just needed to be in the right mood for it.
This is the story, primarily, of Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse, two young girls
I think this is now one of my favourite Tracy Chevalier books, and one which I would recommend to anybody who enjoys historical novels. The fact that this is a relatively recent period in history, and a time of much change and progress for women, was very appealing to me, as were the descriptions of the cemetery and mourning styles. A fantastic read.
This is the story, primarily, of Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse, two young girls
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who meet at a Victorian cemetery in London in 1901, around the time of the death of Queen Victoria. They become friends and their families become acquainted. The story follows their lives until 1910, the year that King Edward VII died, during which both families suffer tragedies. The women's suffrage movement plays a large part in the book, and the story is an excellent piece of historical writing. Tracy Chevalier writes from numerous different points of view and at no time was I confused as to who was narrating, which is a testament to her fine writing style.I think this is now one of my favourite Tracy Chevalier books, and one which I would recommend to anybody who enjoys historical novels. The fact that this is a relatively recent period in history, and a time of much change and progress for women, was very appealing to me, as were the descriptions of the cemetery and mourning styles. A fantastic read.
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LibraryThing member meyben
Changes are happing at the turn of the century, 1900. Might be a little depressing.
LibraryThing member sarahd
Two girls meet in a graveyard and become good friends, even though their mothers do not like one another. A few years later, they become next-door neighbors. One girl's motherbecomes involved with the women's rights movement, unintentionally dragging both families along with her.
LibraryThing member kellynasdeo
This may be one of my favorite books of all time. I loved the characters and learning about Highgate Cemetery, which I've added to my list of "Places I Want To Visit".
LibraryThing member NancyJak
Great story about two families beginning with New Years 1900 in England. I love how it shifts from the point of view of the various characters.
LibraryThing member kingsportlibrary
Falling Angels is a historical fiction which takes place in Victorian England. Because the main character is a child, the explanations for Victorian burial and mourning customs make sense. This also allows the reader to "see" more as a child. A child can get into places and overhear conversations
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that an adult would be hard pressed to accomplish. Falling Angels also includes information about the women's suffrage movement in England which is quiet different from the light portrayal in Mary Poppins. Show Less
LibraryThing member mintuscany
This is a book that I read 5 or 6 years ago, but the story stayed with me. I can still remember parts like I read them yesterday. The subject matter isn't great or noteworthy. But the way that it is written is very haunting.
LibraryThing member krsball
A superb author and a great, heart wrenching story.
LibraryThing member bnbookgirl
Two families come together through their daughters whose families own adjoining plots in a cemetery. Great look at the class differences also- one family is lower-middle and one family is upper-middle. It takes on changes in the nation, women's sufferage, and the importance of beliefs.
LibraryThing member briannad84
A favorite even though it's been awhile since I read it. I love the part about cemeteries being more for the living than the dead! I'd never looked at it that way before reading this book.
LibraryThing member jcelrod
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book - probably the best Chevalier I've read.
LibraryThing member stacyinthecity
Victorians were obsessed with death and sex. This book opens with the death of Queen Victoria, and ends with the death of King Edward, placing it squarely in Edwardian times, but the Victorian obsessions of death and sex are the two themes of this novel, pushing and pulling each other forward to
The book follows two rival families sharing adjacent cemetery plots and who eventually become next door neighbors. The two little girls become friends, the fathers play cricket and go to pubs together, but the mothers are constantly comparing themselves to the other in every way.
Through the point of view of all of the different family members, servants, and the gravedigger's son, the nature of the families' friendship and rivalry is uncovered. This style of shifting 1st person narration was very effective for this book. With headings indicate who was writing, it was never confusing, and the plot unfolded itself slowly and beautifully as motivations for past actions others observed became clear.
Death surrounded these families. The girls were just old enough to understand death when Queen Victoria died. They live next door to the cemetery and visit their family plots. They learn how to mourn. They live in the shadow of death every day.
Sex was ever present as well: the wife that turned her husband away; the husband that went to wife swapping parties; sexual escapades with men who work at the graveyard, and the consequences of those actions. Sexual roles were explored as well, as men are told to handle their woman as one handles a horse, and an accidental encounter with a leading suffragette leads one of the wives deep into that movement.
Eventually, the families become too entangled with each other and with the Suffragette movement so that even the smallest things that these rivals and friends do will have unintended and drastic consequences.
This was an excellent novel.
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modern times or back towards the Victorian age.The book follows two rival families sharing adjacent cemetery plots and who eventually become next door neighbors. The two little girls become friends, the fathers play cricket and go to pubs together, but the mothers are constantly comparing themselves to the other in every way.
Through the point of view of all of the different family members, servants, and the gravedigger's son, the nature of the families' friendship and rivalry is uncovered. This style of shifting 1st person narration was very effective for this book. With headings indicate who was writing, it was never confusing, and the plot unfolded itself slowly and beautifully as motivations for past actions others observed became clear.
Death surrounded these families. The girls were just old enough to understand death when Queen Victoria died. They live next door to the cemetery and visit their family plots. They learn how to mourn. They live in the shadow of death every day.
Sex was ever present as well: the wife that turned her husband away; the husband that went to wife swapping parties; sexual escapades with men who work at the graveyard, and the consequences of those actions. Sexual roles were explored as well, as men are told to handle their woman as one handles a horse, and an accidental encounter with a leading suffragette leads one of the wives deep into that movement.
Eventually, the families become too entangled with each other and with the Suffragette movement so that even the smallest things that these rivals and friends do will have unintended and drastic consequences.
This was an excellent novel.
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LibraryThing member egotrippa
Fiction, 20th century, London, Historical fcition, American literature, Children, 17th century, Social conditions, Women, Suffrage
LibraryThing member damsel58
The word that best describes this book is lovely. There is a grace and melancholy air about the entire thing that evoked the time period and the sense of change and gradual loss of innocence that the two main characters were going through.
I'm not sure how much of that sense was created by the
I'm not sure how much of that sense was created by the
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narrative style. I am not a fan of the back and forth, multiple point of veiw narratives that interrupt the development of interest in and affection for a single character, but in this case, I think it added to the almost airy feel of the book - like we're more just lightly touching down in these people's lives that suppsed to empathize with them. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheoClarke
Warm sensitive exploration of the transition from the formal gothic romanticism of Victorian England to the more relaxed pragmatism of the Edwardians as told in the first person by some eight protagonists linked by family or neighbourhood and by events at Highgate cemetery for the nine years of
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Edward VII's reign. Each character is carefully delineated with a sympathetic wit that makes even the most repellant of them credibly comprehensible. The contrasts of the two cultures are reflected in the novel's structure and its voices creating a curiously stark evocation of its time. Show Less
LibraryThing member tututhefirst
This novel (a New York Times Bestseller in 2001) is a sweeping period piece of the stratified society of London in 1906, just as Queen Victoria dies, and the Edwardian age is ushered in. Set against a backdrop of the Women's Suffrage movement, it is essentially the story of two young girls (in
Maud Coleman - the only child of Kitty and Richard, serious, intelligent, and subconsciously understanding that many of the rules of Victorian England are essentially meaningless and best left behind. She longs for a friend and finds one in
Lavinia (Vinnie) Waterhouse - the devil may care (but only if carefully constrained within the bounds of proper society) oldest child of Gertrude and Albert. She also longs for a friend (while trying desperately to shed herself of her hanging on younger--but much wiser--sister Ivy May.) Maud and Lavinia meet in the cemetery where they discover their family graves are next to each other. Lavinia even writes a 'book' about the proper way for a lady to get through formal mourning. That section alone is a treasure. Together Maud and Vinnie spend many an afternoon scampering through the graveyard where they meet
Simon Field - the young gravedigger who, with his father, spends his life watching the comings and going of all levels of society and gains the wisdom to see that in the end, everybody ends up under the ground. Simon gives us (and the girls) a grounding in reality, and is able to go where the 'proper ladies' can't. He sees much, hears much, knows much, and manages to keep most of it to himself, until the knowledge needs to be shared.
Kitty Coleman - the restless and disenchanted wife of Richard, mother of Maud. She was traumatized by childbirth, and further shocked to the core of her being when, during a New Year's house party, her husband engages in, and insists that she does also, what is today known as 'wife swapping'. Her withdrawal from him (and from life in general) is brutal and substantial. Only later will she recover and join the Women's Suffrage movement, risking all to play out her desire for personal freedom.
Richard Coleman - a proper English gentleman of the era. He knows nothing about anything going on in his household (that is a woman's domain) and cares only for cricket, star-gazing, and doing exactly what he is told to do by his mother
Edith Coleman - a grand dame of staggering (and perhaps swaggering?) mien....she causes her son, her daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter to kow-tow to whatever she says is 'proper' and refuses to hear of any other way of doing things. Even the Coleman's cook threatens to quit whenever Edith appears on the doorstep. Her most egregious act comes when she tries (over the objections of Kitty and Maud and Mrs. Baker the cook) to dismiss
Jenny Whitby - the maid. Jenny's story gives us the other side of the coin. Young girl with no education, no dowry, no prospects, living in poverty who comes to the big city to go 'into service' in exchange for room, board, and a few coins to send home to her starving family. No SPOILERS, but her story is central.
Gertrude and Arthur Waterhouse - the gentle couple who live next door to the Colemans. Their financial circumstances are not as good as (nor would Edith Coleman allow that their blood lines are either) their neighbors. Gertrude tries to follow society's dictates, tries to keep a rein on Vinnie - but can't help spoiling her--and actually detests the Colemans and what they stand for. Arthur is simply grateful to be able to play cricket with Richard on Sunday afternoon, and happy that his wife and daughters have suitable family companions in the ladies next door.
When all these stories are spun together in the setting of the cemetery with the Suffragette Movement providing excitement,and the Cemetery "Guvner" John Jackson providing a humanizing and humane personna, it is a riveting and poignant story. What happens to these women and how their actions influence and impact one another is in many ways the universal story of sisterhood, in others the never-ending story of sin and a chance for redemption. Whether redemption occurs is left to the reader to discover.
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today's parlance they'd be BFFs) who live next door to each other. The story is eloquently told from the voices of nine different characters, with additional ample views of three others. Ordinarily, that would be about 8 points of view too many, but Chevalier makes it work in a glorious way. We watch as time goes by for: Maud Coleman - the only child of Kitty and Richard, serious, intelligent, and subconsciously understanding that many of the rules of Victorian England are essentially meaningless and best left behind. She longs for a friend and finds one in
Lavinia (Vinnie) Waterhouse - the devil may care (but only if carefully constrained within the bounds of proper society) oldest child of Gertrude and Albert. She also longs for a friend (while trying desperately to shed herself of her hanging on younger--but much wiser--sister Ivy May.) Maud and Lavinia meet in the cemetery where they discover their family graves are next to each other. Lavinia even writes a 'book' about the proper way for a lady to get through formal mourning. That section alone is a treasure. Together Maud and Vinnie spend many an afternoon scampering through the graveyard where they meet
Simon Field - the young gravedigger who, with his father, spends his life watching the comings and going of all levels of society and gains the wisdom to see that in the end, everybody ends up under the ground. Simon gives us (and the girls) a grounding in reality, and is able to go where the 'proper ladies' can't. He sees much, hears much, knows much, and manages to keep most of it to himself, until the knowledge needs to be shared.
Kitty Coleman - the restless and disenchanted wife of Richard, mother of Maud. She was traumatized by childbirth, and further shocked to the core of her being when, during a New Year's house party, her husband engages in, and insists that she does also, what is today known as 'wife swapping'. Her withdrawal from him (and from life in general) is brutal and substantial. Only later will she recover and join the Women's Suffrage movement, risking all to play out her desire for personal freedom.
Richard Coleman - a proper English gentleman of the era. He knows nothing about anything going on in his household (that is a woman's domain) and cares only for cricket, star-gazing, and doing exactly what he is told to do by his mother
Edith Coleman - a grand dame of staggering (and perhaps swaggering?) mien....she causes her son, her daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter to kow-tow to whatever she says is 'proper' and refuses to hear of any other way of doing things. Even the Coleman's cook threatens to quit whenever Edith appears on the doorstep. Her most egregious act comes when she tries (over the objections of Kitty and Maud and Mrs. Baker the cook) to dismiss
Jenny Whitby - the maid. Jenny's story gives us the other side of the coin. Young girl with no education, no dowry, no prospects, living in poverty who comes to the big city to go 'into service' in exchange for room, board, and a few coins to send home to her starving family. No SPOILERS, but her story is central.
Gertrude and Arthur Waterhouse - the gentle couple who live next door to the Colemans. Their financial circumstances are not as good as (nor would Edith Coleman allow that their blood lines are either) their neighbors. Gertrude tries to follow society's dictates, tries to keep a rein on Vinnie - but can't help spoiling her--and actually detests the Colemans and what they stand for. Arthur is simply grateful to be able to play cricket with Richard on Sunday afternoon, and happy that his wife and daughters have suitable family companions in the ladies next door.
When all these stories are spun together in the setting of the cemetery with the Suffragette Movement providing excitement,and the Cemetery "Guvner" John Jackson providing a humanizing and humane personna, it is a riveting and poignant story. What happens to these women and how their actions influence and impact one another is in many ways the universal story of sisterhood, in others the never-ending story of sin and a chance for redemption. Whether redemption occurs is left to the reader to discover.
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LibraryThing member ruthseeley
One of the few works of fiction I've ever read that makes use of multiple POV narrators to tell a story in linear time. This one's a tour de force.
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2001
ISBN
0007108265 / 9780007108268
Similar in this library
DDC/MDS
| 813.54 |