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Angelica Audiobook
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(3.00) - 707 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of The Egyptologist and Prague comes an even more accomplished and entirely surprising new novel. Angelica is a spellbinding Victorian ghost story, an intriguing literary and psychological puzzle, and a meditation on marriage, childhood, memory, and fear. The novel opens in London, in the 1880s, with the Barton household on the brink of collapse. Mother, father, and daughter provoke one another, consciously and unconsciously, and a horrifying crisis is triggered. As the family's tragedy is told several times from different perspectives, events are recast and sympathies shift. In the dark of night, a chilling sexual spectre is making its way through the house, hovering over the sleeping girl and terrorizing her fragile mother. Are these visions real, or is there something more sinister, and more human, to fear? A spiritualist is summoned to cleanse the place of its terrors, but with her arrival the complexities of motive and desire only multiply. The mother's failing health and the father's many secrets fuel the growing conflicts, while the daughter flirts dangerously with truth and fantasy. While Angelica is reminiscent of such classic horror tales as The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House, it is also a thoroughly modern exploration of identity, reality, and love. Set at the dawn of psychoanalysis and the peak of spiritualism's acceptance, Angelica is also an evocative historical novel that explores the timeless human hunger for certainty.
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"Another pastiche from Arthur Phillips. This time he reworks the Victorian ghost story, viewed from every angle and every character's perspective. I found myself missing the overblown voice of the Egyptologist, but liked this all the same for its restrained use of genre conventions with an edge."
— Gretchen (5 out of 5 stars)
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“Spellbinding…Cements this young novelist’s reputation as one of the best writers in America, a storyteller who combines Nabokovian wit and subtlety with a narrative urgency that rivals Stephen King’s.”
— Washington Post -
“A spectacular, ever-proliferating tale of mingled motives, psychological menace, and delicately told crises of appetites and loneliness. Phillips sustains a pastiche of Victorian writing and ideas with enticing playfulness.”
— New Yorker -
“A masterpiece…seamlessly mixes psychological disintegration, the dissolution of a marriage, and…a classic ghost story.”
— USA Today -
“Impressive…Explore[s] class, gender, family dynamics, sexuality, and sciences both real and fraudulent, ancient and newly minted…The multiple-viewpoint narration yields psychological depth and a number of clever surprises.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Phillips expertly depicts the repressiveness of the Victorian era, well attuned as he is to the subtle and dramatic transformation of familial roles that occur when a child is introduced into the family dynamic. Phillips retells the same vents from four perspectives (à la Rashomon), revealing just enough information each time to change the reader’s allegiances.”
— Booklist -
“Phillips is a writer of uncommon versatility…Gives Henry James a run for the money. Phillips’ control of language and exquisite writing…[are] worth the price of admission.”
— Library Journal -
“A symphony of psychological complexity and misdirection in four increasingly tricky movements…Elegant writing abounds, as do probing characterizations and flashes of wit…An impressive step forward for the versatile Phillips, who continues to engage, surprise, and entertain.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Angelica Listener Reviews
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" The best sentence: Night uncoiled. "
— Linda, 2/8/2014 -
" A complex book that requires some attention but then rewards with a deeply thought-provoking story. Though set in the Victorian era, "Angelica" speaks to very modern issues regarding the nature of perception and memory, and the influence parents have on their children. "
— Jane, 2/4/2014 -
" A haunting novel with a surprise twist that leaves readers reeling this novel kept me hooked from start to finish. "
— Aimee, 1/17/2014 -
" The mixed reviews I've seen on this site are perhaps due to a general discomfort with unreliable narrators. And this book happens to have three of them. Phillips has a deft hand with perspective, and the results were mostly satisfying. For me, at least. "
— David, 12/28/2013 -
" A sort of ghost story, told from various points of view. Cool... "
— Debbie, 12/20/2013 -
" An VERY different kind of book, like nothing I've ever read before. I thought it was very interesting, but my mom and grandfather didn't care for it. "
— Angie, 12/18/2013 -
" Well written and intriguings at times, but ultimately unsatisfying "
— Melissa, 12/17/2013 -
" It is interesting as it is a different genre than I am used to reading. It takes place during the Victorian Era. It tells basically the same story from 4 different perspectives. It was not especially easy to read and I was wanting to be done with it before I finished it. "
— Janice, 10/7/2013 -
" A four-prong narrative approach that keeps the head spinning and ensures that the reader will not know who is telling the truth makes for a really good, if slightly complicated read. Think of an unreliable narrator and just multiply that x4! "
— Jason, 8/16/2013 -
" totally underwhelming. the egyptologist was witty and surprising and had such a great sense of fun -- this was the opposite. it plodded. it was heavy-handed. the entire plot was immediately guessable and, frankly, I could hardly stand to go along to see that my guesses got borne out. "
— Emily, 5/7/2012 -
" Could have been a 4.5. Story was well told and it was just a different perspective. I was a little hesitant cause the last book I read by him was not good at all. So 2 good ones and 1 bad ones. He is still on my list of authors I want to read. "
— Eric, 3/10/2012 -
" Really not a book I would normally read, but it was pretty good. This was not an easy read, but I got through it. "
— Alicia, 2/28/2012 -
" I read about half of this book. Just a little too slow for me to really enjoy. Too many books out there to spend so much time on a book I'm not loving. "
— Heidi, 2/25/2012 -
" Nice and creepy, with a whole passel of possibly-unreliable, definitely-repressed Victorian narrators. "
— Shan, 1/29/2012 -
" The prose in this book is strong (although long winded), but ultimately the story itself doesn't live up to its potential. Lots of loose ends left hanging. Plus, the multiple POV narrative is revealed at the end to be something totally different, and much less satisfying. "
— Melissa, 12/11/2011 -
" Hated this book! I only read about 30 pages, and it was awful!!! Life is too short to finish awful books! "
— Glynis, 8/9/2011 -
" I was looking forward to reading Angelica. Sad to say, this was one of the rare times that I just couldn't make it to the end of the book. It's difficult to describe the problem - some great writing but overall a stodginess that turned me off. "
— Megan, 5/30/2011 -
" An interesting mystery, but similarly to The Egyptologist, I really just didn't quite get it. "
— Haverly, 2/26/2011 -
" Book seemed to drag on, and said the same thing in four different ways until it seems you MIGHT get it. I only finished it b/c I finish all books I buy. Perhaps if I had read it instead of listened it might have made a difference. "
— Elle, 2/11/2011 -
" Hated this book! I only read about 30 pages, and it was awful!!! Life is too short to finish awful books! "
— Glynis, 12/21/2010 -
" Satisfying if you can get through it, but a difficult read. "
— Grumblebuffin, 10/5/2010 -
" A four-prong narrative approach that keeps the head spinning and ensures that the reader will not know who is telling the truth makes for a really good, if slightly complicated read. Think of an unreliable narrator and just multiply that x4! "
— Jason, 7/10/2010 -
" I enjoyed Prague much more, partly because the subject matter of this book was hard to read for some reason. Still, the writing is excellent and I plan to pick up the Egyptologist soon. "
— Liz, 2/14/2010
About Arthur Phillips
Arthur Phillips is the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Song is You, Prague, The Egyptologist, and others. Prague was named a New York Times Notable Book and received the Los Angeles Times/Art Seidenbaum Award for best first novel. His books Angelica and The Song Is You were both optioned for film, the former by Mitchell Lichtenstein and the latter by Focus Features. Phillips received his BA in history from Harvard University, and he had several occupations before becoming a novelist, including a speechwriter, a jazz musician, and a child actor; he is also a five-time Jeopardy! champion. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.
About Susan Lyons
Susan Lyons has appeared on numerous television shows, including A Country Practice, Police Rescue, Something in the Air, and All Saints. Among her film credits are Winds of Jarrah and In a Savage Land. She is married to Tony Award–winning actor Jefferson Mays.