All the Perverse Angels

Was it the title or was it the cover? Either way this book appealed to me. We start off with Anna and Emily in the Cotswolds. Anna is "recovering" from something, Emily is her partner and looking after her. I found the writing lovely however I confess to being a little confused at times. The story switches to Victorian times (mostly around 1887) and a very new Ladies College in Oxford. There is a painting that links the two threads and art is a very important part of this story.

The story then switches between Anna and Emily in current times and, mainly, Penelope and Diana in Oxford. While Anna is the star of the show the developing relationship between Penny and Diana is key to this story. In a sense this is a quest for knowledge and understanding of the painting that Anna finds and is maybe part of her recovery process. Other than the fact the her issue seems to be a mental one little is made directly of Anna's problems. However they do manifest themselves.

I found myself completely engrossed in Anna as a character. I'm not well versed in "art" and I think people would get more out of this book if they were. However Anna is a very well crafted character. Flawed, alive, interested, puzzling and much more - great. I guess the other characters, while good enough, suffer by comparison. Even Penny (Penelope) ,who is probably the other key person, simply feels two dimensional by comparison to Anna.

The quality of the writing and creativity of this book is very good indeed. There is a warmth of humanity here even in parts of the book where things look quite bleak. I would argue that the early part of the book feels rather slow and it did take me a little while to grasp the story properly. However the pace stepped up as the book went on and I became more involved. I'd give the caveat that it is very art orientated and that will not suit some people. There is more to this than simply the parts though. There is a wonderful dream like quality to the writing at times. It is all enveloping in a comfortable way too for me. I am very glad I read it even if I can't say I loved it.

Note - I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review

Ann is an art curator. She has a tendency to live her life through art. This is not in her best interest sunce she had priblems facing reality which is why she had been in a psychiatric hospital. To make matters worse she discoves matetial in the attic, which add to her delussions. Interesting storyline.
4 Stars

Thankyou to NetGalley, Unbound and Sarah K Marr for the opportunity to read this novel.
I found the book to be beautifully written. It was very slow to start with, but as the storyline continues, it builds momentum and you can't help but be captivated by the central characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very good. I highly enjoyed this book and authors concepts in this book. I believe this is a debut novel. I think the author did a great job. It is very thought-provoking novel. I highly recommend this book.

One can’t really use the adage perfect on paper for a book. It just doesn’t seem right, too punny or something. And yet it’s a perfect way to describe my opinion of this book. It had all the correct elements, all the things I like, alternating timelines, historical fiction, investigation into the past involving art/literature and yet…there was something hypnotically soporific about the execution that made me put it down over and over again in favor of more dynamic stories until I finally powered through the bulk of it in one long sitting, although not without some dozing off. I can only attribute this effect to the poetically dreamy sort of language, which was, of course, derigouer in the late 1800s where so much of the story takes place and also did work for the present, albeit creating a sort of peculiar emotional vagueness. The latter can be partly attributed to the narrator’s state of mind, but her entire story is just nebulous somehow. Presumably she’s had a mental episode following her partner cheating on her and so she proceeds to occupy her frazzled mind with researching a work of art she comes across randomly. Something about it though made it very difficult to engage with, the characters seem unformed, especially when compared to the ones from the other timeline, difficult to care about. Anyway, it’s probably just has to do with the writing, competent as it is, its cadences would probably sing to some readers more than others. Objectively the book is perfectly decent, but subjectively it was entirely too difficult to stay awake enough to properly appreciate its charms. Thanks Netgalley.