Small Angels

This is a catch-up review for a book I read this spring. I selected this book from my library's new books shelf as part of my project to read as many recently published novels as possible in search of the ever-elusive comps. The setting is a small village in the English countryside that is touched by the spirit world, and not in a friendly way.

There's a prologue that handily lets the reader know right away that there's some gothic flavor of restless/vengeful spirits, but the first POV of the main action is Chloe. A somewhat vacuous bride-to-be, Chloe is a big city fish out of water in her groom's hometown. Her POV grew on me toward the end of the book, but Kate (sister of the groom) and Lucia (youngest child of the mysterious Gonne family) carried the weight of the tale. I believe there were a few other characters who lent their head spaces less frequently, including the ghost at the center of the vengeful haunting.

I keep coming back to POV in these reviews. Within the community of budding authors, POV is a frequent topic, and generally we're advised (and advising each other) to stick to one POV and to third-limited, but most of the (new!) books I'm reading do otherwise. I still subscribe to the philosophy that you can do anything in fiction writing as long as you do it well.

This book is well-written with a compelling story, but for me, there was a sense that the most interesting parts of the story were relegated to flashbacks. Lucia (and to some extent Kate, as well) does a lot of work in her POV to take us back in time. The drama around the wedding pales in comparison to the drama around the events of her and Kate's late adolescence. Chloe, as the newcomer to the village, seems to serve as the audience stand-in. But even as the reader gains info from the other POVs, no one tells Chloe anything, despite the fact that everyone, including her would-be husband, knows most of the secrets.

The atmosphere and prose are strong, and the characters drew me in. I plan to check out the author's first book, The Quick, as part of my debut novel reading project.