This is the story of 2 girls growing up in the early 1900’s in London. Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse are unlikely friends they meet in a London cemetery, where their family plots are next to each other. Their families really have nothing in common and after their first meeting they don’t see each other for awhile till they become neighbors and renew their friendship. Maude and her mother don’t always see eye to eye on things since
her mother has discovered the suffragette movement and ends up in jail to the embarrassment of her entire family.Lavinia and her mother get along well although they seem to look down at others especially Maude’s mother Kitty. Kitty and her “radical” friends are preparing for the march to Hyde Park to promote a woman’s right to vote and so much goes horribly wrong that day that changes both families and the girls’ friendship forever.
I always enjoy stories about suffragettes and this was no exception. I did listen to this on audio and there was one thing that bothered me about the audio version of this book is that it is set in England and the narrator did not have an English accent, but that doesn’t have anything to do with my enjoyment of the writing/storyline of this book.
This was a well written story with fully fleshed out characters, there are a lot more stories going on than just the story of these two girls there is Simon the gravedigger, Jenny the maid and of course the mothers of these two girls.
I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction, suffragettes, and stories about friendship. ( )

The word that best describes this book is lovely. There is a grace and melancholy air about the entire thing that evoked the time period and the sense of change and gradual loss of innocence that the two main characters were going through.

I'm not sure how much of that sense was created by the narrative style. I am not a fan of the back and forth, multiple point of veiw narratives that interrupt the development of interest in and affection for a single character, but in this case, I think it added to the almost airy feel of the book - like we're more just lightly touching down in these people's lives that suppsed to empathize with them. ( )

I loved this book for its wonderful recreation of London during the early 20th century. There are strong women suffrage themes, and lots of unusual lore about funerals, mourning, and cemeteries. ( )

This book follows two families in England at the beginning of the 20th century. Two little girls' lives intersect when they meet at their families' adjacent burial plots in a London cemetery. As they grow up together, death and the symbolism surrounding it are prominent themes in their lives. The novel takes place during England's suffrage movement. One of the mothers becomes involved with these activities, leading to turmoil that costs each family dearly.

I found this to be a beautiful novel that is quite different from other of Chevalier's works due to the time frame in which it takes place. The book is told from the point of view of several of its characters and I found each to be quite engaging. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator did a pretty good job although her accents were a bit inconsistent.

4/5 stars ( )

This is a book that I read 5 or 6 years ago, but the story stayed with me. I can still remember parts like I read them yesterday. The subject matter isn't great or noteworthy. But the way that it is written is very haunting. ( )

This book is one that I have a deep emotional bond with. I was reading it during the time when my grandfather died. The theme of the books seemed almost providential.

I believe this is my favorite book by Chevalier. It's different from anything else she's written. The characters are stunning, the prose is beautiful. She gave Death a viable presence on every page. Death of a marriage. Death of antiquated ideals. Death of restrictions. Death of people and their customs.

Good stuff. ( )

Falling Angels is a historical fiction which takes place in Victorian England. Because the main character is a child, the explanations for Victorian burial and mourning customs make sense. This also allows the reader to "see" more as a child. A child can get into places and overhear conversations that an adult would be hard pressed to accomplish. Falling Angels also includes information about the women's suffrage movement in England which is quiet different from the light portrayal in Mary Poppins. ( )

Falling Angels is Tracy Chevalier's (author of Girl With a Pearl Earring) glimpse into a changing English society during the decade between the deaths of Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. Through the lens of turn-of-the-century funerary tradition, she tells the stories of two neighboring families during this decade in which both progress and changing morals and values caused much controversy.

The Coleman family and the Waterhouse family have adjacent cemetery plots and the reader quickly learns the differences between the two groups. The well-to-do, free-thinking Colemans have placed an elegant urn over their plot while the conventional Waterhouses have chosen a more sentimental angel. Although the families are quite different, they quickly find themselves true neighbors and their daughters, Maude Coleman and Lavinia (Livy) Waterhouse, become best friends.

Chevalier has a knack for intimating the voices of her characters. The story is told in a chronological fashion by each of the characters, including at times the cook, maid and gravedigger. Change and grief are explored, but more interesting are the resulting attitudes and desires that arise.

At its core, this is a novel about women, young and old. Some deal with change by grasping at tradition while others embrace new movements, such as women's suffrage. Despite their different characteristics and approaches, all eventually must travel the through the same turmoil and despair to get to the other side of the decade. ( )

dette er en af de bøger der hele tiden ulmer i baghovedet. trist og opløftende på samme tid. ( )

Great story about two families beginning with New Years 1900 in England. I love how it shifts from the point of view of the various characters. ( )

http://literatehousewife.wordpress.co... ( )

Read it years ago, but it was a very sexually haunting book ( )

http://www.internetbookshop.it/code/9... ( )

This may be one of my favorite books of all time. I loved the characters and learning about Highgate Cemetery, which I've added to my list of "Places I Want To Visit". ( )

Two girls meet in a graveyard and become good friends, even though their mothers do not like one another. A few years later, they become next-door neighbors. One girl's motherbecomes involved with the women's rights movement, unintentionally dragging both families along with her.

A great book with the characters taking turns to narrate the chapters. It's 1901, and Britain is mourning the death of Queen Victoria. The Colemans and the Waterhouses are neighbours, and are very different families, but nonetheless, their daughters, Maude and Lavinia become best friends.

We see how Maude's mother Kitty is dissatisfied with her life and becomes involved in the suffragism movement, this estranging herself even further from her already unhappy husband.

I was never a fan of historical fiction, but I decided to give this book a try and I loved it. I found it hard to put down, and as soon as I had finished it, I wanted to read something else by the same author. ( )

10/06/07-11/06/07
Unlike Chevalier’s Girl With A Pearl Earring I could not put this book down. Written from the perspectives of the members of two families, their servants, friends and ‘the gravedigger’s son’ the book memorably evokes the atmosphere of middle-class Victorian London. The subjects raised range from attitudes to sex, children, womens’ suffrage, age and death. The plot intricately weaves through the lives of the families, drawing on current issues and events, highlighting the rapidity of changing attitudes and mores at the beginning of C20. ( )

Changes are happing at the turn of the century, 1900. Might be a little depressing. ( )

Enjoyed this one, a light-ish read that was pretty interesting. One line/section in particular struck me like few have in a long time, really beautiful and heartbreaking. Immediately after that the book loses all plausibility and kind of falls apart. Great buildup though. I'm rating it 4 because it was fun to read despite the obvious problems. ( )

In a novel of manners and social divisions set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century England, Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse--two girls from very different backgrounds--meet in a graveyard the day after Queen Victoria’s death and become fast friends. ( )

Another great piece of historical fiction from Tracy Chevalier. This one deals with the social changes in the first decade of the 1900's in Edwardian England. Maude and Lavinia, about 5 years old, become "best friends" when they meet at the cemetary where their families have adjacent plots. Kitty, Maude's mother is an educated, restless, and suppressed woman until a string of circumstances lead her to the women's suffrage movement. The cemetary and the library play supporting roles in this novel populated with people that are somewhat Dickensian. It's an engaging well written story. ( )

A superb author and a great, heart wrenching story. ( )

I would have read this book ages ago had I known it was about the suffragette movement. Ok, so that wasn't the main historical motif—that would be Victorian obsession with death and morning: much of the book is set in a cemetery, so that makes sense—but parts of it distinctly reminded me of H.G. Wells' Ann Veronica. What I like most about Chevalier's novels (aside from the historical setting, which is of course the main draw for me) are her characters—dynamic and complex—and their interactions with each other, the way their lives intertwine over the years. And of course there are the moments—harsh, and unforgiving, and too lifelike to make reading it pure escapism—the remind the reader Chevalier is a serious novelist, and while her books are enjoyable to read, they aren't to be taken as lightly as those that always have a happy ending. Falling Angels is not a book one is lightly to forget about once one has finished it. I read it all in one sitting (one lying?). ( )

From Library Journal: "January 1901. Queen Victoria is one day dead; two families visit their respective family graves to mourn, and two girls meet, become friends, and bring their relatives together in unexpected ways. As in her first novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Chevalier excels at capturing subtle social nuances and setting historical scenes. Key among the characters who narrate parts of the story is beautiful and frustrated Kitty Coleman, who, as the times shift from Victorian to modern, embraces the change with a bid for personal freedom. Her secrets and lies have disastrous consequences. The novel is infused with enriching details the proper fabric for mourning handkerchiefs, how to host an "at home" (an open house), and the route the suffragettes took on their march to Hyde Park. Like an E.M. Forster novel filtered through a modern sensibility, Falling Angels takes us back to the early 20th century and keeps us there, waiting to see what Kitty and her crowd will do next. Boldly plotted and beautifully written, this impressive novel is highly recommended for all public libraries."

I like her more for her descriptions of the era than for her plots-sometimes they are a little poorly executed. ( )