Angel
by Elizabeth Taylor
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Fiction. Literature. HTML:Perhaps every novelist harbors a monster at heart, an irrepressible and utterly irresponsible fantasist, not to mention a born and ingenious liar, without which all her art would go for naught. Angel, at any rate, is the story of such a monster. Angelica Deverell lives above her diligent, drab mother’s grocery shop in a dreary turn-of-the-century English neighborhood, but spends her days dreaming of handsome Paradise House, where her aunt is enthroned as a maid. show more But in Angel’s imagination, she is the mistress of the house, a realm of lavish opulence, of evening gowns and peacocks. Then she begins to write popular novels, and this fantasy becomes her life. And now that she has tasted success, Angel has no intention of letting anyone stand in her way—except, perhaps, herself. show lessTags
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When this was written and published in 1957, it was a different world. It wasn't until the late 20th century that we began to hear and learn about things like ADHD, PTSD, and many assorted other mental health challenges and brain neurodivergencies. Thus, as I was reading about Angel, I couldn't help but wonder if her character wasn't perhaps autistic.
Angel was, in many ways, ridiculous as well as ridiculed. Yet her badly written novels made her rich and famous. Not too ridiculous, that.
Taylor didn't take the low road and ridicule Angel too, though. Rather, she depicted her as driven, loyal, and single-mindedly energetic. She also depicted her humorless, lacking curiosity, and cold to those she should have loved better. That show more realistically maddening complex mix kept my interest. I cared about Angel in spite of how so much was off-putting about her. I was intrigued how her life played out and her reaction to her circumstances. Both the good and the tragic.
I loved the way the end was written. It was lyrical and apt.
Elizabeth Taylor deserves more reading. show less
Angel was, in many ways, ridiculous as well as ridiculed. Yet her badly written novels made her rich and famous. Not too ridiculous, that.
Taylor didn't take the low road and ridicule Angel too, though. Rather, she depicted her as driven, loyal, and single-mindedly energetic. She also depicted her humorless, lacking curiosity, and cold to those she should have loved better. That show more realistically maddening complex mix kept my interest. I cared about Angel in spite of how so much was off-putting about her. I was intrigued how her life played out and her reaction to her circumstances. Both the good and the tragic.
I loved the way the end was written. It was lyrical and apt.
Elizabeth Taylor deserves more reading. show less
I read Elizabeth Taylor's Angel and I have to ask how in the world did Taylor create such a completely unlikable character in a book I ended up loving? Doesn't make sense. I should've hated this book because well, Angel is absolutely toxic. But Taylor's writing is so gobsmacking beautiful and descriptive that it's hard to get beyond that. Plus it's her genius, I think, that could create a character that's so repellent while being so absolutely fascinating. I won't soon forget her.
"At that first meeting, long ago in London, she had seemed to need his protection while warning him not to offer it: arrogant and absurd she had been and had remained: she had warded off friendship and stayed lonely and made such fortifications within her own show more mind that the truth could not pierce it. At the slightest air of censure in the world about her, up had gone the barricades, the strenuous resistance begun by which she was preserved in her own imagination, beautiful, clever, successful and beloved." show less
"At that first meeting, long ago in London, she had seemed to need his protection while warning him not to offer it: arrogant and absurd she had been and had remained: she had warded off friendship and stayed lonely and made such fortifications within her own show more mind that the truth could not pierce it. At the slightest air of censure in the world about her, up had gone the barricades, the strenuous resistance begun by which she was preserved in her own imagination, beautiful, clever, successful and beloved." show less
This book, about a writer’s life from around 1900 through the 1960s, started off as great fun and grew more serious as it went on. But all of it was good. As an introduction to Elizabeth Taylor it’s certainly made me want to read more by her.
The best comparison I can make is that Angel starts like a female, teenage version of Hadrian the Seventh, that wonderfully self-indulgent catholic fan-fic written by Frederick Rolfe: that one, too, deals with an impossibly smug writer convinced of their natural superiority and utterly unwilling to compromise. Angellica Deverell (to give Angel her full name) is a confident teenager who is bored with her and her timid mother’s bland life above a shop they keep for someone else, and decides show more randomly to start writing a novel. The end product reflects Angel’s values: great flights of fancy, purple prose and a firm conviction that her imagination is a superior substitute to real life -- in short: over-wrought romance among the upper classes.Her manuscript sees print on a lark, by a publisher who laughed themselves silly at Angel’s so-bad-it’s-hilarious efforts . In later sections of the book Angel will become a wealthy, highly successful author whose career and emotional life will see the impact of the events of the 20th century.
I have a penchant for books about what I call magnificent megalomaniacs, larger than life characters who take their obsessions so seriously they become absurd. And that is definitely what Angellica Deverell is: she goes all the way and pursues her (petty and ridiculous) goals with a seriousness that commands respect. And in many ways, that is how this book feels on a meta level, too: Elizabeth Taylor definitely sees the funny side of Angel, tongue firmly in cheek, and she makes sure that at least a few of the other characters are prone to snarkiness and eager to egg things on just to see how far they will go. But Taylor herself does not relent in supporting Angel all the way: any meanness in the humour is entirely the characters’. Like any good parent, Taylor stands by her creation and insists on seeing them develop on their own terms, socially awkward though they may be. That is the space in which this novel develops, and Taylor did a masterful job of being fair to all sides.
In all, I think this was a lovely character study of a slightly absurd, magnificently megalomaniacal writer. A very charming surprise, but a book I loved and one which I recommend warmly! show less
The best comparison I can make is that Angel starts like a female, teenage version of Hadrian the Seventh, that wonderfully self-indulgent catholic fan-fic written by Frederick Rolfe: that one, too, deals with an impossibly smug writer convinced of their natural superiority and utterly unwilling to compromise. Angellica Deverell (to give Angel her full name) is a confident teenager who is bored with her and her timid mother’s bland life above a shop they keep for someone else, and decides show more randomly to start writing a novel. The end product reflects Angel’s values: great flights of fancy, purple prose and a firm conviction that her imagination is a superior substitute to real life -- in short: over-wrought romance among the upper classes.
I have a penchant for books about what I call magnificent megalomaniacs, larger than life characters who take their obsessions so seriously they become absurd. And that is definitely what Angellica Deverell is: she goes all the way and pursues her (petty and ridiculous) goals with a seriousness that commands respect. And in many ways, that is how this book feels on a meta level, too: Elizabeth Taylor definitely sees the funny side of Angel, tongue firmly in cheek, and she makes sure that at least a few of the other characters are prone to snarkiness and eager to egg things on just to see how far they will go. But Taylor herself does not relent in supporting Angel all the way: any meanness in the humour is entirely the characters’. Like any good parent, Taylor stands by her creation and insists on seeing them develop on their own terms, socially awkward though they may be. That is the space in which this novel develops, and Taylor did a masterful job of being fair to all sides.
In all, I think this was a lovely character study of a slightly absurd, magnificently megalomaniacal writer. A very charming surprise, but a book I loved and one which I recommend warmly! show less
This is a rather uncharacteristic book for Taylor, but it is based on her usual mix of sharp humour and comfortable pessimism. It's an extravagant, satirical fantasy about an appallingly bad and very successful popular Edwardian novelist. The only one of Taylor's books to be set in part outside her own lifetime, it opens in 1900 and ends sometime in the 1940s. Although the fictional Angel Deverell's life and work seem to bear more than a passing resemblance to those of the real (but still gloriously improbable) novelist Marie Corelli, Taylor is obviously also doing a "there but for the grace of God..." thing, weaving in elements from her own experience as a beginning novelist and imagining how she might have ended up if she had been show more born without a sense of humour and the self-protective instinct to hide herself in conformity. Both of these lacks leave the unfortunate Angel extremely vulnerable to being hurt by the people she comes across, and it's paradoxically this very vulnerability that also makes it possible for a few people in her life to love her. It's a gloriously funny book, but also a surprisingly touching and sad one. Not to be missed! show less
Utterly entertaining novel, the account of the increasingly eccentric, self obsessed and anti-social Angelica Deverill. Daughter of a lowly widowed shopkeeer, Angel has great plans for her literary career, producing inadvertently hilarious novels set in grand stately homes (put me in mind of Daisy Ashford's 'Young Visiters' )(sic), the whole a product of imagination and stories heard from her aunt - a lady's maid. Because unlike other young literary wannabes, Angel doesn't read...she is only interested in her own creations.
Angel is a wonderful creation; Taylor's powerful characterization never falters, we believe in her impossible nature totally.On being told by someone "I read one of your books", "she blinked, jolted by what he had show more said. She always supposed that everyone had read all of her books and had them nearly by heart, that they thought about them endlessly and waited impatiently for the next one to appear."
And as old age sets in, Angel (complete with peacocks, umpteen cats, a mouldering stately home and an outlandish wardrobe) becomes increasingly alienated from normal folk.
Laugh out loud funny in numerous places (especially the bits about cats). For all her unutterable awfulness, I rather liked Angelica. At times she almost felt like a soul -mate! show less
Angel is a wonderful creation; Taylor's powerful characterization never falters, we believe in her impossible nature totally.On being told by someone "I read one of your books", "she blinked, jolted by what he had show more said. She always supposed that everyone had read all of her books and had them nearly by heart, that they thought about them endlessly and waited impatiently for the next one to appear."
And as old age sets in, Angel (complete with peacocks, umpteen cats, a mouldering stately home and an outlandish wardrobe) becomes increasingly alienated from normal folk.
Laugh out loud funny in numerous places (especially the bits about cats). For all her unutterable awfulness, I rather liked Angelica. At times she almost felt like a soul -mate! show less
I must confess: when I was in seventh grade, I had a tremendous crush on Elizabeth Taylor. Molecules of that crush remain today. When I first noticed a novel by Elizabeth Taylor, I quickly dismissed the writer as no relation to the violet-eyed goddess. Then, the name kept popping up in odd places, a mention here and there, without any elaboration. Finally, I decided to find out about Liz the second. The first novel I could find was Angel.
According to the bio in the New York Review Books Classics, Taylor was born in 1912 into a middle-class family in Berkshire, England. She worked as a librarian and governess before marrying in 1936. Nine years later, the first of her eleven novels appeared. She also authored four collections of short show more stories. Two of her novels, including Angel were made into films. I just added that one to my Netflix queue.
Angelica Deverell is a thoroughly despicable character. Most of the time, readers like to admire the main characters in the novels they read, but every once in a while, one comes along with such an absorbing story, we can’t stop reading.
Angel lives with her mother over a shop in a poor section of town. Angel’s Auntie Lottie is in service as a lady’s maid to a wealthy family nearby at Paradise House. She offers to introduce her niece to service to help out her sister and “Angel stared at her. ‘Do you really dare to suggest that I should demean myself doing for a useless half-wit of a girl what she could perfectly well do for herself; that I should grovel and curtsy to someone of my own age; dance attendance on her; put on her stockings for her and sit up late at night, waiting for her to come back from enjoying herself? You must be utterly mad to breathe a single word of such a thing to me’” (46). One must admire her spirit, drive, and determination.
Angel hears stories about Paradise House, the grounds, the peacocks, and the servants. However, she will not visit there, because, Taylor writes, “My mother lost her inheritance because she married beneath her. She can never go back, so don’t ever mention anything to anybody about Paradise House for that reason” (10). Secretly, Angel has a growing obsession with the house.
At an early age, Angel decides she is going to become a famous writer. She writes her first novel at about the age of 16. She sends it off to the only publisher she has ever heard of – Oxford University Press – and quickly receives a rejection. She denigrates the editors, and her wild imagination began to reshape her life. Taylor writes, “Her panic-stricken face would be reflected back at her as she struggled to deny her identity, slowly cosseting herself away from the truth. She was learning to triumph over reality, and the truth was beginning to leave her in peace” (15).
Angel’s dreams grew and expanded. Taylor writes, “She had never had any especial friends and most people seemed unreal to her. her aloofness and her reputation for being vain made her unpopular, yet there were times when she longed desperately, because of some uneasiness, to establish herself; to make her mark; to talk, as she thought of it, on equal terms: but since she had never thought of herself as being on equal terms with anyone, she stumbled from condescension to appeasement, making what the other girls called ‘personal remarks’ and offending with off-hand flattery” (16-17).
The prose is wonderful, the story absorbing, the characters all interesting. I can’t wait to find more of her novels. Angel, by Elizabeth Taylor. 5 stars
--Jim, 2/3/15 show less
According to the bio in the New York Review Books Classics, Taylor was born in 1912 into a middle-class family in Berkshire, England. She worked as a librarian and governess before marrying in 1936. Nine years later, the first of her eleven novels appeared. She also authored four collections of short show more stories. Two of her novels, including Angel were made into films. I just added that one to my Netflix queue.
Angelica Deverell is a thoroughly despicable character. Most of the time, readers like to admire the main characters in the novels they read, but every once in a while, one comes along with such an absorbing story, we can’t stop reading.
Angel lives with her mother over a shop in a poor section of town. Angel’s Auntie Lottie is in service as a lady’s maid to a wealthy family nearby at Paradise House. She offers to introduce her niece to service to help out her sister and “Angel stared at her. ‘Do you really dare to suggest that I should demean myself doing for a useless half-wit of a girl what she could perfectly well do for herself; that I should grovel and curtsy to someone of my own age; dance attendance on her; put on her stockings for her and sit up late at night, waiting for her to come back from enjoying herself? You must be utterly mad to breathe a single word of such a thing to me’” (46). One must admire her spirit, drive, and determination.
Angel hears stories about Paradise House, the grounds, the peacocks, and the servants. However, she will not visit there, because, Taylor writes, “My mother lost her inheritance because she married beneath her. She can never go back, so don’t ever mention anything to anybody about Paradise House for that reason” (10). Secretly, Angel has a growing obsession with the house.
At an early age, Angel decides she is going to become a famous writer. She writes her first novel at about the age of 16. She sends it off to the only publisher she has ever heard of – Oxford University Press – and quickly receives a rejection. She denigrates the editors, and her wild imagination began to reshape her life. Taylor writes, “Her panic-stricken face would be reflected back at her as she struggled to deny her identity, slowly cosseting herself away from the truth. She was learning to triumph over reality, and the truth was beginning to leave her in peace” (15).
Angel’s dreams grew and expanded. Taylor writes, “She had never had any especial friends and most people seemed unreal to her. her aloofness and her reputation for being vain made her unpopular, yet there were times when she longed desperately, because of some uneasiness, to establish herself; to make her mark; to talk, as she thought of it, on equal terms: but since she had never thought of herself as being on equal terms with anyone, she stumbled from condescension to appeasement, making what the other girls called ‘personal remarks’ and offending with off-hand flattery” (16-17).
The prose is wonderful, the story absorbing, the characters all interesting. I can’t wait to find more of her novels. Angel, by Elizabeth Taylor. 5 stars
--Jim, 2/3/15 show less
Here is how Theo, her publisher, sees Angel: "Once he saw a large cactus-plant in a flower-shop window. From one unpromising, barbed shoot had sprung a huge, glowering bloom. It looked solitary and incongruous, a freakish accident; and he was reminded of Angel." Angel Deverell is different from the start: bright, rude, odd - she doesn't fit her humble social background..... At 15 she has an awakening and begins to write...... she writes and writes and becomes a celebrated authoress of steamy Edwardian novels: all of it comes from out of own imagination. Tall and bony, she has huge green eyes, fabulous black hair and a kind of intensity that stuns people into doing her bidding. She becomes wildly successful, fulfills many of her dreams, show more such as buying the country house where her aunt once worked as a lady's maid. She even marries the man of her dreams, although "Like many romantic, narcissistic women she shied away from the final act of love-making.... Sex seemed to have nothing to do with her.... She had to become a different person before she could endure it, and she was not always able, even for love of Esme, to make the change."Times change and her work goes out of fashion and the money ebbs, and Angel can only sustain her vision by ruthlessly ignoring reality - there is a heartbreaking moment near the end when a revelation about her husband, repressed for decades, emerges, and her two people most loyal to her (I hesitate to use the word 'friend') understand if her belief is shattered, so will she shatter..... Another story also lurks behind this one: of the price one pays to live a fully imagined life. As she finishes one of her late novels, after staying in bed the months it took to write it, "The end of her work, to which she had advanced so determinedly, so eagerly, came with a sense of anti-climax. She had emerged from it at last, to a perfectly dull evening, with nothing exceptional in the least likely to happen, no fanfare of trumpets, not a glass lifted in salutation, or even any sensation within herself other than tiredness and a certain shrinking from the world." At the very end of her life, the last night, as she wanders the halls of her deteriorating house, to let in a cat outside in a snowstorm, she looks out the door and sees: "Snow had stopped falling. The sky was shabby like rubbed suede, with stars scattered untidily...." It is Taylor writing, but she is writing inside Angel's head, this is how Angel herself really sees things. Her publisher knows all along that there is, in fact, a real artist, the real thing, in there, if only she could have dared to let it out, if she could have understood what she was capable of.
Really quite an astonishing portrait of a complex woman. ****1/2 show less
Really quite an astonishing portrait of a complex woman. ****1/2 show less
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Elizabeth Taylor Centenary: Angel in Virago Modern Classics (August 2012)
Author Information
30+ Works 7,829 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Angel
- Original title
- Angel
- Original publication date
- 1957
- People/Characters
- Angelica Deverell; Emmie Deverell; Aunt Lottie; Theo Gilbright; Hermione Gilbright; Nora Howe-Nevinson (show all 8); Esmé Howe-Nevinson; William Marvell
- Important places
- Paradise House, England, UK (fictional); London, England, UK; Norley, Cheshire, England, UK; Alderhurst, England, UK (fictional)
- Related movies
- Angel (2007/I | IMDb)
- Dedication
- To Patience Ross
- First words
- "'into the vast vacuity of the empyrean,'" Miss Dawson read.
"You ought to get married, Miss Sylvia," said old Jeffcott, the head gardener, with a wag of his hoary beard. (Introduction) - Quotations
- Gilbright and Brace had been divided, as their readers' reports had been. Willie Brace had worn his guts thin with laughing, he said. The Lady Irania was his favourite party-piece and he mocked at his partner's defence... (show all) of it in his own version of Angel's language.
"Kindly raise your coruscating beard from those iridescent pages of shimmering tosh and permit your mordant thoughts to dwell for one mordant moment on us perishing in the coruscating workhouse, which is where we shall without a doubt find ourselves, among the so-called denizens of deep-fraught penury. Ask yourself - nay, go so far as to enquire of yourself - how do we stand by such brilliant balderdash and live, nay, not only live, but exist too..."
"You overdo those 'nays'," said Theo Gilbright. "She does not."
"There's a 'nay' on every page. M'wife counted them."
Even if she had felt a need to renew contact with life, a funeral was a strange way of doing so: and she felt no such need: at sixteen, experience was an unnecessary and usually baffling obstacle to her imagination. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)There is nothing left to get used to, he thought, as he took up the empty basket and went out.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Only Never-Never Land - where half-indignant, hal-appealing looks are as common as beards that wag commiseratingly - could ever live up to the expectations of Angelica Deverell. (Introduction) - Blurbers
- Waters, Sarah; Bowen, Elizabeth
- Original language
- English
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