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ANGEL
 
 
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ANGEL [Paperback]

Mary E Kingsley (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 15, 2011
Thirteen year old Angel Bishop is fed up with all the unanswered questions about her life, like why did her daddy run off when she was just a baby? And why has her Aunt Patsy, the only family member she feels she can talk to, been locked up in a place for crazy people all these years? It seems to Angel like her family fell apart right after she was born, which makes her wonder what her coming along had to do with it. Growing up with her mother, Ruth, who is often distant and preoccupied, and her Bible-thumping grandmother, Naomi, Angel is certain there's more to the story than she's been told. When her father, Calvin, telephones out of the blue one evening and says he's coming home for Thanksgiving, Angel thinks her dream of having a normal family is finally going to come true. Instead, she finds herself at the center of a dangerous scenario, threatened by secrets far beyond her understanding. Set in a small Appalachian town in the early 1970's, ANGEL is the compelling story of an innocent girl as the unwitting link between the two generations of her family's dark and unresolved past.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 308 pages
  • Publisher: Little Falls Press (November 15, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0578095351
  • ISBN-13: 978-0578095356
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary E. Kingsley was born and raised in northeastern Tennessee, surrounded by the hills of southern Appalachia. She now lives in Washington DC with her husband, two cats and a dog. When not writing she enjoys spending time with friends and family, yoga, gardening, occasional painting, paper making, and photography. Angel is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Angel Bishop is 13, orange-haired (it is NOT red, thank you very much), and in many respects a fairly typical adolescent girl. She's a little more thoughtful and a little less obsessed with boys than most, but she's still dealing with all the inner turmoil of those years between innocence and the beginnings of maturity.

For Angel that turmoil is particularly acute because she's never known her daddy. She knows his name, has a picture of him, gets cards and presents from him, and she and her mama even live with her daddy's mother, Naomi; but nobody will really talk about him. The most she can get out of her mama or Naomi is that he's too busy working to come home, and everyone else in town clams up the minute Angel starts asking questions. The only person who seems to have any answers is her Aunt Patsy, but Patsy's been locked up in a mental home for years and what she says doesn't always make a lot of sense.
Then one day Angel's daddy calls to say he'll be home for Thanksgiving, and Angel's desire to have a proper family takes her on a journey that's disturbing, liberating, and nothing like what she always hoped for.

ANGEL is, in a word, lovely. Kingsley has a direct, honest style that works well to convey feeling without bathos or melodrama, and Angel is a captivating heroine. She is brave and even foolhardy at times, but beneath it all is her wholly believable desire to have the kind of family she thinks of as "normal." Kingsley has captured the hot-and-cold nature of adolescence beautifully, and keeps her protagonist always perfectly balanced between a longing for the safety of childhood and a largely unconscious drive for the self-determination of adulthood.

Although nothing at all like it in style or story, ANGEL nonetheless reminded me strongly of "The Catcher in the Rye" in its appeal. It could probably be argued that all coming-of-age novels share the theme that growing up never means what we expect it to, but what's rare is a first-person narrator who's truly insightful without being a prodigy - someone who reminds us just how confusing and painful that time was if we're looking back on it, while also reassuring those closer to Angel in age that feeling like an oddball is, in fact, what's truly normal.

Kingsley's pacing is perfect as her engaging heroine digs deeper into the family's past, and the novel moves quickly without feeling rushed. The dialogue rings true, the characters are varied, interesting, and always utterly relatable (I don't know if it's because both my parents are from the South, but I felt like I grew up with these people), and Kingsley does a deft job of doling out the secrets to keep you turning pages. It's an engrossing, enriching read. Highly recommended.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Engaging and Delightful December 23, 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I intended to read Angel over the course of a few weeks like I often do with works of fiction. But the Prologue drew me in, and I read the entire book in one day. Kingsley's heroine rings true as a small-town southern girl, and unlike many teen heroines, she is neither vapid nor mature beyond her years. The storyline is realistic and engaging, and Kingsley's easy writing style and pace kept me eagerly turning the pages without being tempted to skim past the details. I eagerly await her next novel! I would recommend this book for anyone interested in small-town southern culture, family dynamics, or excellent novels. If for no other reason, read Angel to learn that redheads really have orange hair!
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
A pure delight! November 24, 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
Angel is a treasure of a story which brought me back to a period that still triggers so many fond memories. "Angel" is fun and charming with a quick sense of humor. The story pulls you in to attempt to figure out what is going to happen next. I highly recommend it for many different age groups.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very well written and engaging
I purchased this novel on a limb, as it isn't the sort that I usually buy. I am so glad I did!

The author has a talent of putting you in the head of the teenage lead,... Read more
Published 1 day ago by A. Delahoy
SO good!
Ms. Kingsley has done an outstanding work! If this is her first novel, I can't wait to read the next one. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Kat
Good reading
Angel is a well written book that definitely keeps you interested. At the age of 13, Angel is pretty analytical for her age about her own family and the absence of her father for... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Pamela L Victory
I liked it
It was a very well written book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The characters were very well defined although I didn't feel like the story was set in the 60's.
Published 8 days ago by booksaremyfriends
Good Story
From the first sentence I could see that Mary Kingsley has a way with words. The descriptions (although sometimes a bit lengthy) pull the reader in and make the setting and... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Reader "Debbie"
Thoughtful fiction
I wasn't sure I would like this book -- literary Southern stories are not normally what I read, but I'm so glad I took a chance. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Sesame
Cute story, but one major issue
This was a free book for me, and I did enjoy it. However, the author has a really bad habit of putting quotation marks when a character begins to speaks but constantly forgetting... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Nell Daley
So well written!
I'm a huge Joshilyn Jackson fan and I would put Mary E. Kingsley right up there with her. The dialogue was witty and spot-on southern sarcasm, but with a moving storyline. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Monica
kattywatty
Good, easy read. Never going to be in competition for novel of the year but a good read anyway. Young girl growing up in a family with secrets. Read more
Published 19 days ago by katty
Fabulous Debut Novel
"Angel" is a compelling, authentic novel -- especially great in the way Mary E. Kingsley has created a genuine setting and believable characters. Read more
Published 22 days ago by rafloyd
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