Angel Makers [Paperback]

Jessica Gregson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2007

The bleak Hungarian plain, 1914, an isolated village shrouded in superstition and rumours of witchcraft...'I have made mistakes. As surely as though eight women are twisting in the wind now, in my own way, I've been twisting in the wind my whole life. At least that's what I tell myself when I cannot face up to what I am and what I've done...' Outcast from village life, Sari is tormented by a loneliness like no other. The daughter of a Taltos, Sari has the second sight and a reputation as a witch. At the outbreak of war, the men of the village are called away to fight and a powerful bind develops between the women left behind. Sari for the first time, finds herself with friends. However, these friendships come at a price as the women struggle to hold on to the freedom that war has brought them. As the village mid-wife turns to boiling fly-paper to source its arsenic, problems are solved with sinister undertones.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, December 2011: The Angel Makers, Jessica Gregson's engrossing debut, fleshes out the bones of a bizarre true story. In a remote Hungarian village, brutish men's departure for World War I offers a welcome reprieve to their women—many have endured regular beatings (and worse). In the years of their husbands' absence, women's friendships deepen, and they find previously unimagined satisfaction in work and romance with Italian prisoners at a camp on the town's outskirts. Even Sari, the clever midwife's assistant suspected of witchcraft, succumbs to the charms of Marco. When Sari's injured fiancé returns from war a changed, frighteningly violent man, she makes a desperate decision to save herself and her unborn baby, poisoning her fiancé slowly enough to avoid detection. But other desperate women take notice, forcing Sari to choose between helping them perform similar deeds and being exposed as a murderess.

In truth, between 45 and 300 people were intentionally poisoned in Nagyrév, Hungary, over 15 years during and after WWI. Gregson's version of events is horrifically plausible and psychologically astute, and Sari makes a surprisingly sympathetic narrator. --Mari Malcolm

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Jessica Gregson on The Angel Makers

From the very first moment I came across the story, I knew I had to write about it.

It was just a couple of paragraphs in a true crime paperback I'd picked up in a bored, slightly morbid moment, to read on a train ride. The bulk of the chapters were about lone, crazy serial killers, and so the outline of the events surrounding "The Angel Makers of Nagyrev" stood out. The bare bones of the story were intriguing: a female-driven murder plague in an isolated village, against the backdrop of the First World War. I was astonished that no one had written about it already!

Once I started to write, though, my story started to shift further and further away from what had been the main focus of the story--the murders. The more I wrote, the more interested I became in the part that came before: what could have compelled the real women behind the story to commit actions that seem, from an outside perspective, abhorrent and unforgiveable.

What were these women's lives like? What sorts of conditions might have led them to behave as they did? What was it about that place, and that time, that caused the women to succumb to such a strangely specific madness? I don't intend to excuse the actions of my characters, or the actions of the women on whom they are based, but I do try to show how easy it might be to move, step by step, outside the bonds of morality that keep (most of us) constrained.

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--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Like Tracy Chevalier in Girl with the Pearl Earring, Gregson excels at developing strong, complex female voices; a swift plot; and a story that will hold readers from beginning to end."—Booklist

“Unforgettable.”—Historical Novels Review

“It’s a testament to Gregson’s skill that she lures readers on board and makes us believe—even cheer on—the grisly twists. She might get away with it because she’s so careful with her pacing and character development. She doesn’t race straight to the guts; she instead gives us enough of village life to hook us, make us believe, make us care about Sari’s strangeness, and the village’s general sicknesses and plucky misery, before any angels are made. Furthermore, Gregson possesses an enviable talent for delivering a full character in just a few lines…. her prose hangs together well overall and demonstrates an elegant ability to shift perspective, an acuity with handling the passage of time, and a touch for simple, transformative moments of beauty.” —Fiction Writer's Review

“Gregson has created in Sari so curious a character that the novel, based on a true story, springs vividly alive.” Grade: B+ —Clevland Plain Dealer

"Basing her novel on a true story, Gregson draws the reader into Sari’s conflicted world…. Gregson’s cautionary tale is all the more chilling for its basis in reality.” —Curled Up With a Good Book --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Paperbooks Ltd (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0955109450
• ISBN-13: 978-0955109454
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,907,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lysistrata with a vengence, November 11, 2011

By 

Patricia H. Parker "Bookwoman" (Springfield, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Angel Makers (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I read once that people who think old country villages are lovely and bucolic have never heard the rats in the thatching. The village in "The Angel Makers" is like this. The thick dark forest hovers around the houses which seem to gather together for warmth and safety. The people reflecting their environment are sneaky, mean and gossipy. One of their targets is Sari, the narrator of the story and the main character. Sari's mother is dead, and she lives with her father, the village Shaman. She has inherited her father's knowledge and skills. Besides this, the village herbalist and midwife, has taken her under her wing. Added together, this makes Sari a mysterious and slightly frightening figure in the eyes of the other villagers.

Sari's father feels his end is coming, and he makes plans to have his daughter marry the son of the weathiest family in town. The young man, Ferenc is already in love with Sari, and they plan to marry in the spring, except that World War I intervenes. The recruiters come from Vienna and, filled with patriotic fervor, most of the men and boys in the village leave to join the Army.

The atmosphere in the village changes as the women take over the chores and begin to run things themselves. In the light of their freedom and growing sense of power, the women bloom. They become happier and quickly the village runs better than it ever did when the men were there. There are a few women who miss their husbands, but, by and large, the men are not missed. After a couple of years, a group of Austrian soldiers show up with prisoners in tow. These prisoners are Italian, charming and very different from the village men. Relationships form and pretty soon the women start wondering what it would be like if their husbands never came back. The war ends, the Italian prisoners return home and the village men come back to the village. However, if the men were dull and morose before, the war has exacerbated their natural traits and PTSD has made things worse. Beatings and punishments are common. In the meantime, Ferenc, who had been wounded, has returned. Sari has had a deep relationship with a prisoner, but she has kept her virginity because of her upcoming marriage. Ferenc has developed paranoia along with all the other complexes which he brought back from the war. He begins to beat Sari so that her life is in danger. Also, having finally been intimate with her Italian, she is pregnant and doesn't know which man is the father. She becomes afraid that Ferenc will kill her or the baby. She goes to the herbalist for help, and their solution, and the way it changes the village makes up the second half of the book.

This is a study in human nature and the human being's need to survive in the face of adversity. It is a small book, moves very quickly and is well worth the time to read it. It shows that we, many times, don't really know the people we live with, and we, ourselves don't know what we are capable of doing to save ourselves. According to the author, this book is based on a true story.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Angel Makers, November 19, 2011

By 

Sandra Brazier "Artist, educator, and musician" (Beautiful New Hampshire, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Angel Makers (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Sari was very different from the other people in her tiny, isolated village, Nagyrév. Sari was more intelligent than the others were. She was intelligent in a matter of fact way. She used her innate intelligence to improve her life. She wasn't one to let life happen to her, to let it spin her out of control.

Because she was different, she was shunned by the superstitious villagers and even considered to be a witch by some. This all changed when World War I started and the men started going to fight. Finally, everyone seemed to get along. Women who were burdened by abuse and excessive demands, flowered. Sari, midwife and medicine woman, became an essential part of her village. She became liked and respected. It was a happy time. But, in the back of their minds, the women worried about what they would do when their husbands returned. They could not bear to think of returning to the life they had before the men left. They could not even consider returning to a life of abuse. Sari wouldn't either.

This story, although very shocking, is based on a true story. It is a story of the human spirit, especially that of the suppressed woman.

Effectively written, this is a story filled with suspense, mystery, love, and hope. The characters are extremely well-developed and the descriptions of the stark, plain town near its foreboding forest are very realistic, clear, and unforgettable. It serves as a perfect backdrop to the feelings of hopelessness that the characters experience. This is perfectly composed in every way!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder so appalling it's hard to believe IT IS TRUE, November 3, 2011

By 

Harold Wolf "Doc" (Wells, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Angel Makers (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

My review jumped to 5 stars when I researched and found this IS TRUE. Written as compelling fiction, it's the dastardly accounting of women of a small Hungary town who decided to take life into their own hands. Names were changed to protect the guilty, for some reason. The end is a bit altered, the prerogative of a fictionalization. The original local was Nagyrev, not Falucska. A startling rendition of murder accounts involving mariticide (husband by wife), abortion, femicide, filicide, and more. Once the line is crossed...

It's not a pleasant cozy read, not documentary either. It's historic fiction where "You can't have beauty without a bit of terror." Beauty is the quaint village, terror comes portioned by housewives. It's unique reading when a witch/murderess is protagonist and the victim is the antagonist bad boy. But the author's note does say "heavily embellished (true story) by the author's imagination." Is there a feminist ax to grind. No matter--it makes for a compelling read; always on the suspenseful edge of "What's fiction-What's fact."

Character-driven novel of true-life adaptation through the minds and desires of Hungarian women living through the shortages of wartime (which includes men shortages.) Groins cry for attention from the men-less women of the Falucska village and nearby Italian officers in Gazdag POW camp. Mutual consumption. Titillated survival. Too bad...this could have better included the inner struggles of POWs housed nearby as well. It is this small bit that falls short.

You the reader feel affection for young Sari who desires education more than physical gratification. You sympathize with her emotional failings. You trill when she takes command of her destiny. The you become appalled when this widowed mother begins dealing death like serving ale over the local pub counter.

I was shocked.
I was also educated.
Certainly, I was engrossed.
This debut novel should make a name for author Jessica Gregson. And unfortunately, if she's single, she may never find a husband...unless he's illiterate. :)