Book description
Will friendship overcome the social boundaries of Edwardian London in
this bestselling historical tale perfect for fans of Audrey Niffenegger
and Sarah Waters.
January 1901, the day after Queen Victoria's death: two families visit
neighbouring graves in a fashionable London cemetery. One is decorated
with a sentimental angel, the other an elaborate urn. The Waterhouses
revere the late Queen and cling to Victorian traditions; the Colemans
look forward to a more modern society. To their mutual distaste, the
families are inextricably linked when their daughters become friends
behind the tombstones. And worse, befriend the gravedigger's son.
As the girls grow up and the new century finds its feet, as cars
replace horses and electricity outshines gas lighting, Britain emerges
from the shadows of oppressive Victorian values to a golden Edwardian
summer. It is then that the beautiful, frustrated Mrs Coleman makes a
bid for greater personal freedom, with disastrous consequences, and the
lives of the Colemans and the Waterhouses are changed forever.
A poignant and historical tale of two families brought reluctantly
together, Falling Angels is an intimate story of childhood friendships,
sexual awakening and human frailty. Its epic sweep takes in the changing
of a nation, the fight for women's suffrage and the questioning of
steadfast beliefs. 'Sex and death meet again in Tracy Chevalier's
marvellous evocation of Edwardian England' Daily Mail
'The author's grip on the reader is as powerful as in her first novel.
It is almost impossible to break off reading this driving narrative' Independent
'A master stylist in the making' Boston Globe
'Writing about the past - especially this much written-about period -
has its pitfalls, but Chevalier has triumphantly avoided them. The
result is a novel that shows both the strangeness of the world as it was
and its closeness to our own time' The Times Tracy Chevalier is the
author of six novels, including the international bestseller Girl with a
Pearl Earring, Remarkable Creatures, The Virgin Blue, Falling Angels,
and The Lady and the Unicorn. Born in Washington, DC, she moved to
London in 1984, where she lives with her husband and son. She has a
website at www. tchevalier. com.
