~ Oil & Vinegar ~
The Third Angel
By Alice Hoffman
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Falise
This is classic Alice Hoffman which to brings to mind words like striking, mesmerizing, intricate tied lovingly together with exquisite writing with a flair for the not so normal. If you love Alice’s body of work you will love The Third Angel. And if new to Alice Hoffman this is a great place to start.
The book does not have chapters so if you a chapter reader like me, it is good to know up front. However, there are three vignettes that stand on their own yet when brilliantly woven together in the end a novel is delivered.
The three stories focus on three different individuals and a view from that characters time and space but the supporting characters and places are integral to craft the entire novel. Heron’s Wife – 1999 starts the trilogy. Allie Heller is getting married to Paul Lewis which brings Madeline Heller to London for the wedding. Maddy stays at the Lion Park Hotel which is a connector for all three vignettes. Allie and Madeline have issues that started a long time ago during their youth and with their mother Lucy Heller.
Lion Park Hotel – 1966 is the title of the second vignette. In this part of the book we meet Frieda, the mother of Paul Lewis first introduced to us in the first vignette. She works at the hotel at a young age. Through events that transpire, circumstances and individuals she meets during this time the entire piece begins to fill in.
Lastly is The Rules of Love – 1952 where the main character is Lucy, Allie and Maddy’s mother first introduced in Heron’s Wife. As a little girl she is taken to London for the marriage of her new step mother’s sister. Through this little girl’s eyes and actions a chain of events is set into motion that is felt through all three vignettes of this book. Even more holes are filled in and the story already rich becomes even richer with more depth and overlap and sadness and intrigue.
When done my first instinct was to read it again. I did not feel prepared to connect the dots when I read it the first time and knew that I missed some pearls. I wanted to take in the angel appearances and the importance in each of the stories that I did not first time around as I was so fascinated. This time around I read it in chronological order, from the back to the front. Which this detail in an of itself is another indication of the genius that is Alice Hoffman but I will let you discover that for yourself.
The Third Angel is released in paperback on March 3, 2009 and June 2009 welcomes the next masterpiece THE STORY SISTERS. I know in the meantime I will be riffling through my home library where I have other Alice Hoffman titles yet to read and soon to treasure.
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JoAnne
Alice Hoffman, a mesmerizing cover, and angel in the title. Who couldn’t wait to tuck into this novel? But, to my disappointment, the first episode was an emotional letdown. I actually had to remind myself to pick it up and continue reading, something I don’t usually do with a Hoffman read who always guarantees an original and inexplicable force of words and plot.
Maddy, the first introduction seems two dimensional and the story line flat. But, I pushed through and by the time the second story of Frieda started, and I was rewarded with a Hoffman Rush. The third angel, the angel we discover is one of possibilities. By the time Lynn enters the story, we start thinking we can pull all the threads together, but, Hoffman still weaves the magic.
If this was a painting, you would have triptych, of three women, three generations and three wrong men to love, all painted in the London Lion Park Hotel. The hotel is not only the setting but provides the essence of the
coincidental characters and the ghostly presence of Room 707, The mysterious is the pull that ultimately wraps each era around the core of family and how they are inter related. The wonder of this novel is the power of how quietly the plot blends all three histories of love and family.
Hoffman’s details and prose are as haunting as room 707 in the Lion Park Hotel. The Third Angel is not only of possibilities but of love lessons learned. This novel is not only about The Third Angel, but a novel of a second read.
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