Another fantastic Penny Vincenzi (No Angel - Penny Vincenzi)

Member Name: eilidhcatriona

Product:	No Angel - Penny Vincenzi
Date:	21/05/09 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic storytelling

Disadvantages: It's only a trilogy, not a longer series!!!

I love reading, and I love to read literature of all levels - classics, award winners, chick lit, Harry Potter and Twilight, but one of my favourite authors is Penny Vincenzi. She is a master storyteller, and each novel has so many different threads in it, all of which crash in a sometimes devastating finale.

No Angel is no different. It is the first novel of the Spoils of Time Trilogy, and opens with Celia Lytton aged 18 in the early years of the 20th century. We stay with her as she marries, has a family, joins her husbands publishing business, sees her husband and other loved ones go to war, and then deals with the consequences of that war. It spans almost 20 years, and the historical detail is excellent, as always with Penny Vincenzi. She puts fictional stories into real events in every novel, and it adds so much to the story. Here we have World War I, in other novels there is the Lloyds collapse, the abdication, World War II, and many others.

My favourites of Vincenzis novels are the ones set in and around the two World Wars. She really captures the spirit of London (well, as I imagine it to have been having read a lot about it - I'm a little young to have been there!!!), and by giving us characters that we can really get attached to, we can begin to understand what life was like during those years.

There are always a lot of characters in Vincenzis novels, some of whom seem peripheral but then come to the fore later on, such as one of Lyttons authors late in this novel. All of Celia's family play an important part in No Angel, as do friends and business aquaintances. I love how Vincenzi gives us all these characters, some at first with no apparent connections to the others, and then they are all tied together by the end of the novel.

This novel focusses a lot on womens rights in the early 20th century. Celia is determined to work, and loves the publishing industry, but her husband Oliver believes she should be at home with the children, despite having an usually equal relationship with her - they discuss news, current events, literature...Then we meet Olivers sister, LM, who holds a high position at the company and is a very independent woman for the time. She becomes distantly involved with the womens rights movement and the Suffragettes, but never joins them fully. This is all quite fascinating, seeing how women fought for their rights and how some women lived with the status quo while others strained to be free of it.

We also see the poverty of the time, in Celia's work with a poor family, which has huge consequences for both families. These parts are heartbreaking, reading about what life was like then for women and their families living in poverty, particularly when the men go off to war.

I love this book, and the rest of the trilogy - they are my favourites of Vincenzis novels. I find I keep going back to Vincenzis novels time and time again, the stories are so captivating. I really would recommend this if you like to be sucked into a book and be left wanting more - this could stand alone, but once you've read it and you know there are sequels, you'll have to read them too! This book, and all of Vincenzis novels, are ideal for a lazy Sunday afternoon, sitting inside with the sun coming through the afternoon, or in the garden in summertime.

Summary: A great read while will have you hooked