The Garden of Angels

by David Hewson

At his beloved Nonno Paolo's deathbed, fifteen-year-old Nico receives a gift that will change his life forever: a yellowing manuscript which tells the haunting, twisty tale of what really happened to his grandfather in Nazi-occupied Venice in 1943.

A Times Best Thriller Book of 2022

The Palazzo Colombina is home to the Uccello family: three generations of men, trapped together in the dusty palace on Venice's Grand Canal. Awkward fifteen-year-old Nico. His distant, business-focused father. And his beloved grandfather, Paolo. Paolo is dying. But before he passes, he has secrets he's waited his whole life to share.

When a Jewish classmate is attacked by bullies, Nico just watches - earning him a week's suspension and a typed, yellowing manuscript from his frail Nonno Paolo. A history lesson, his grandfather says. A secret he must keep from his father. A tale of blood and madness . . .

Nico is transported back to the Venice of 1943, an occupied city seething under its Nazi overlords, and to the defining moment of his grandfather's life: when Paolo's support for a murdered Jewish woman brings him into the sights of the city's underground resistance. Hooked and unsettled, Nico can't stop reading - but he soon wonders if he ever knew his beloved grandfather at all.

• ISBN10: 0727850113
• ISBN13: 9780727850119
• Publish Date: 29 January 2021 (first published 28 January 2021)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
• Imprint: Severn House
• Edition: Main
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Garden of Angels is an immersive thriller with a definite "destination fiction" element (Venice) beautifully written by David Hewson. Released 6th April by Severn House is 320 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. It makes it so easy to find info quickly with the search function.

This is such a beautifully written and crafted book. The interwoven timelines and juxtaposition of the (mostly) unchanging physical city contrasted with the sometimes desperate, short, muddled, and tragic lives of its inhabitants is powerfully metaphorical and effective. I loved that nearly all the characters were nuanced. Few of them were *truly* evil or good and the author does a very good job of portraying them believably.

The historical mystery elements are cleverly done and though the plot is slow at the beginning (it's a complex story, deeply told), it kept me engaged and never lost me. I was a teenager the last time I visited Venice and the author's intimate knowledge of the city historically and currently is impressive and filled me with a desire to visit again.

Five stars. This is one of my better reads for 2021 thus far. I would unhesitatingly recommend it to readers of historical fiction, mystery, and well written family saga.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.