The Bay Of Angels

Anita Brookner

Editions

Review

Brookner once again rewrites a fairy tale in this deeply felt and strongly imagined novel, one of her best.

Zoë Cunningham’s mother Anne remarries and moves to her husband’s villa in Nice, leaving her daughter behind in London.  When the course of her life abruptly changes, Anne is unable to cope and Zoë is forced to tend to her mother in Nice.  Her despair is compounded by homesickness and isolation.

Lest this sound too depressing (and overly familiar to Brookner readers), let me assure you that the denouement brings a joy that is at once realistic and exhilarating.  I found overtones of Brontë’s Villette pbk £2.99 in the relationship between the vulnerable Zoë and the prickly Dr Antoine Balbi; like Lucy Snowe, Zoë learns to give up her romantic idea of a rosy ending for the satisfaction of a life composed of shifting light and shadow. - review by Karen Wadman