I am so enjoying re-reading my Marcia Willett novels. Her style is gentle, her characters warm and believable, and she tells a good story. They’re books to curl up with on a wet day… or indeed at any other time of year. It’s only seven years since I first read ‘The Christmas Angel’, but I remembered liking it very much. So despite it being very unseasonal, I have re-read it over the past few days.
The glittery, snowy cover is in fact a tad misleading; although the book starts and finishes with Christmas scenes, the majority of the action takes place over the course of the year in between. But it’s my only slight gripe about a wonderful book, with some characters who remained in my mind long after I read the book the first time. Rereading felt almost like reacquainting myself with old friends.
There are several important people in this book, but they’re sufficiently three-dimensional and distinct that I had no trouble recalling who was whom. Jakey is probably my favourite character: he’s four at the start of the book, bright and intelligent, and we meet him as he’s putting away the Christmas decorations with his father Clem. He doesn’t want Christmas to end and he’s feeling quite miserable about it.
Jakey doesn’t have a mother; she died when he was a baby, and Clem has given up his vocation to train as a minister in order to be available for his son. He has family nearby, in particular his mother Dossie, who was also widowed at a young age, and who runs a catering company. She lives with her parents, known to everyone as Mo and Pa, and while they’re only in their seventies, he’s had a stroke and they’re both starting to be a little frail. Dossie has a brother, Adam, but neither she nor their parents seem to be on his wavelength at all.
But Clem and Jake live next to a convent, where there are just four remaining nuns. Sister Nichola is elderly and apparently has some form of dementia, although she’s amenable and has moments of lucidity, even wisdom. She is looked after primarily by Sister Ruth, who is austere and finds it hard to show any emotion. The nun in charge is Mother Magda, who tries to please everyone all the time, and finds it hard to make decisions. And then there’s Sister Emily, a delightful lady who adores life, and beauty, and has a kind word for everyone.
And there’s Janna. She was a character introduced in the book ‘Echoes of the Dance’, as a young bohemian woman with no real family, and a tendency to want to travel. She’s been staying for a while at the convent, in a caravan, and while her relationship with Clem is just platonic, she adores Jakey.
Naturally there are various subplots revolving around these folk: there’s an unscrupulous businessman who wants to take over the nunnery, and a house renovation expert who starts a relationship with Dossie, although it’s quickly clear that he’s not unattached, as she believes. But the primary theme is character development, in particular Janna’s gradual search for both freedom and connection, and Clem’s questions about whether he might still be called to the priesthood.
There are more ‘religious’ scenes and interludes in this book than in many of Marcia Willett’s others, but they’re not out of place - the setting, after all, is a convent. There are scripture and liturgy quotations, but they’re in context of the story, and the author never preaches. Each character finds God - or not - in their own way.
While I recalled some of the people in the book, I’d entirely forgotten how Dossie’s unfortunate relationship came to an end - and that the problem with the businessman is never really resolved. Dossie’s relationship with her brother stays rather open too, with an uncertain future. But there’s a kind of sequel to this book which I read last year, ‘Homecomings’. In that book we meet some of the same people five years later, and some of the ends are tied up or at least explored further.
Definitely recommended - ‘The Christmas Angel’ is a warm, character-driven story free of bad language and anything unsuitable for the young, other than brief hints of what happens in Dossie’s relationship as it progresses.
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