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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Angels with Extraordinary Deviousness~"Angelology" a novel by Danielle Trussoni

Published by: Penguin Group
Pages: 480 Paperback
Date released in Paperback:  February 2011
Recognition:  New York Times Notable Book



Summary :

A thrilling epic about an ancient clash reignited in our time- between a hidden society and heaven's darkest creatures.
 
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.
Genesis 6:5

 
Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her father entrusted her to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. Now, at twenty-three, her discovery of a 1943 letter from the famous philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller to the late mother superior of Saint Rose Convent plunges Evangeline into a secret history that stretches back a thousand years: an ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful descendants of angels and humans, the Nephilim.
 
For the secrets these letters guard are desperately coveted by the once-powerful Nephilim, who aim to perpetuate war, subvert the good in humanity, and dominate mankind. Generations of angelologists have devoted their lives to stopping them, and their shared mission, which Evangeline has long been destined to join, reaches from her bucolic abbey on the Hudson to the apex of insular wealth in New York, to the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris and the mountains of Bulgaria.
 
Rich in history, full of mesmerizing characters, and wondrously conceived, Angelology blends biblical lore, the myth of Orpheus and the Miltonic visions of Paradise Lost into a riveting tale of ordinary people engaged in a battle that will determine the fate of the world.


The Dame's Review:

This is a book you have to find and spend your weekend reading.  I promise you it will be one of the best books you'll read this season. 

Danielle Trussoni absolutely has a golden hand.  She's an author who captures the imagination from the beginning and keeps it throughout.  I was so enamored of this book that I could hardly wait to get back to it when distractions interrupted.  It's so beautifully written:  gothic, gorgeous in description, fantastic in imagination.

I personally loved most her descriptions of characters and places.  It was a subject to fixate my mind, causing me to see with my mind's eye the beautiful angels and primary characters who interacted with them.  I could also envision the convent, gleaming high rises, homes, caverns and Nazi headquarters that Trussoni describes.  She is a master author in this area.

The mystery of why Evangeline is left at a convent by her father, why she's been so protected by the sisters there, and what her purpose may be in life is only the tip of the iceburg in this lush novel.  It's the things we learn afterwards about the angels she comes to know, their secrets, and how she'll manage her journey and responses to them that make up the most glorious and absorbing parts of the book.

I absolutely adore this book for so many reasons.  It's especially well written, its gothic details are wonderful, it bristles with magical mysteries, the angels are gorgeous and demonic, Evangeline is a perfect heroine to identify with, and the whole experience is brilliant.



Sumptuous and exciting, this book has religious and historical interest to accompany the rest as mentioned above.  Having spent half of my college education in Munich, Germany, it was a treat to read her writings about Evangeline in Nazi Germany!  What a perfect time for the fallen angels to make a stronghold for their evil plotting. Great fun to be taken back to Germany in this imaginative way.

The Nephilim will steal your hearts even though they are devious, they are magnificent!  And, who could believe she'd throw Abigail Rockefeller into the mix like that?  Awesome in so many details.

This is definitely another book for your stacks!

5 fabulous stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

PS:  I couldn't help showing that picture of the full-bodied angel cover....  :]

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