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Title details for Small Angels by Lauren Owen - Available

Small Angels

A Novel

by Lauren Owen
Daphne Kouma
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
In a hypnotic tale of sisterhood, first love, and hauntings, a wedding in a small English village stirs up unsettling magic and forces a troubled family’s secrets out into the open.

“This beautifully written modern ghost story is an enchanting place to get lost.”—Danielle Trussoni, The New York Times Book Review
“A twisting gothic tale of darkness, intrigue, heartbreak, and revenge.”—Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
The woods are stirring again. . . . 
Lucia and her sisters grew up on the edge of Mockbeggar Woods. They knew it well—its danger, but also its beauty. As a lonely teenager, Kate was drawn to these sisters, who were unlike anyone she’d ever met. But when they brought her into the woods, something dark was awakened, and Kate has never been able to escape the terrible truth of what happened there. 
Chloe has been planning her dream wedding for months. She has the dress, the flowers, and the perfect venue: Small Angels, a charming old church set alongside dense, green woods in the village that her fiancé, Sam, and his sister, Kate, grew up in. But days before the ceremony, Chloe starts to learn of unsettling stories about Small Angels and Mockbeggar Woods. And worse, she begins to see, smell, and hear things that couldn’t possibly be real. 
Now, Kate is returning home for the first time in years—for Sam and Chloe’s wedding. But the woods are stirring again, and Kate must reconnect with Lucia, her first love, to protect Chloe, the village, and herself. An unforgettable novel about the memories that hold us back and those that show us the way forward, this is storytelling at its most magical. Enter Small Angels, if you dare.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 2, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593606032
      • File size: 404085 KB
      • Duration: 14:01:50

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 2, 2022
      With a flair for dramatic atmospherics, Owen (The Quick) offers a creepy, richly detailed, but slow-moving tale of the paranormal encroaching on a contemporary small town. Chloe and Sam are getting married in Sam’s hometown, a tiny British village home to the even tinier Small Angels chapel and the eerie Mockbeggar woods. Kate, Sam’s sister, is loath to return for the wedding to the site of the worst tragedies of her past. Local legends abound about both the woods and the strange Gonnes family, who live on a farm at the treeline. Kate, who befriended the four Gonnes daughters as a teen—and fell in love with Lucia, the youngest and most otherworldly—knows the legends to be all too true. As the wedding draws closer and the darkness from the woods seeps into everyone’s souls, Kate must appease the spirits in the woods and make peace with her past. Kate’s role in this world feels murky for too long before her purpose snaps into place, making for a slow start, and though each of the individual threads is well crafted, Owen doesn’t manage to braid them all together. Still, the characters engage and provoke readers in the best of ways. Fans of small-town horror should check this out. Agent: David Forrer, InkWell Management.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Rebecca Lee is joined by several others as Chloe prepares for her dream wedding to Sam at a small church beside Mockbeggar Woods, outside the village where Sam grew up. Little does Chloe know that the church is available only because the villagers, including Sam's family, know Mockbeggar's history. The distinguished voices of the other narrators make the most of the story's fairy-tale elements and provide a strong sense of place. Narrator Tamsin Kennard's slower pacing and greater sibilance give the character of grandmother Selina a threatening aspect that is not entirely unexpected. Listeners will enjoy following along as the characters deal with their pasts and the increasingly malevolent woods, which have already cost them too much. E.J.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      June 10, 2024

      Owen's (The Quick) latest is a creepy tale of a vengeful ghost, a haunted church, troubled sisters, and generational trauma. The audio is performed by four narrators--Daphne Kouma, Tamsin Kennard, Rebecca Lee, and Eleanor Yates--each of whom pleasingly voices their point-of-view character. Taken as a whole, the narrators sound quite similar, but the story is still easy to follow because of distinct transitions that indicate when a new character takes the stage. Although the accents firmly place the story in the UK, the novel could easily have been Southern gothic. The immediacy of sections set in the present, with unsettling voices, moving paths, and menacing figures, heightens the tension. In contrast, expository sections recounting the past are performed in a way that may lull listeners until they are surprised by the next shock. The village is filled with well-meaning people, some overwhelmed with guilt, and some blaming others in order to turn their backs on the horror that lurks nearby. VERDICT The isolation of the characters and unsettling supernatural events, combined with enchanting local lore, make this an excellent purchase for any library.--Matthew Galloway

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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