"January 1901, the day after Queen Victoria’s death: Two families visit neighboring graves in a fashionable London cemetery. One is decorated with a sentimental angel, the other an elaborate urn. The Waterhouses revere the late Queen and cling to Victorian traditions; the Colemans look forward to a more modern society. To their mutual distaste, the families are inextricably linked when their daughters become friends behind the tombstones. And worse, befriend the gravedigger’s son.
As the girls grow up and the new century finds its feet, as cars replace horses and electricity outshines gas lighting, Britain emerges from the shadows of oppressive Victorian values to a golden Edwardian summer.
A poignant tale of two families brought reluctantly together, Falling Angels is an intimate story of childhood friendships, sexual awakening and human frailty. Yet its epic sweep takes in the changing of a nation, the fight for women’s suffrage and the questioning of steadfast beliefs."

This isn't my favorite book from this author, still it's a beautiful testimony of changing times as well as of growing up.

Reserved for Meg72's Virtual BookBox of Historical Fiction.

Como não foi escolhido por ninguém, vai "seguir na caixa", ou seja, para a Meg...
Espero que gostes ou que o encaminhes a quem o possa apreciar.
Obrigada por esta BB!

I enjoyed "Girl with a Pearl Earring" so I think this will be a good read.

I never thought I would enjoy a book about mourning and cemeteries, but this was a really good read!

The Coleman and Waterhouse families are neighbours – not only their houses, but also their cemetery plots. The two daughters – Maude and Lavinia – are best friends and just love to hang out in the cemetery with Simon Field, the gravedigger´s son. Lavinia is completely obsessed with the rituals related to death and Maude just tags along because her mother, Kitty, doesn´t care and is unsatisfied with her life. But, when a chance encounter gets her involved with the Suffragette movement, Kitty´s world earns new meaning, which will bring grave consequences to both families…

The plot unravels through the voices of the characters, so you get different perspectives on what is going on. I learnt quite a lot about the mourning rituals in the Victorian period and the Suffragette movement, which shocked me a bit. We take our freedom for granted nowadays, but things were really difficult for women in those times, working class or not. The extreme measures that they took made me flinch, but they probably wouldn´t get any results if they acted differently.

Although the book was great, I think the male characters were a bit “forgotten”. Their thoughts about their wives and daughters´ behaviour were not detailed and it would have been nice to “get in their heads” more often.

Picked from the VBB-Women in Fiction. I hope you enjoy this book!

Book arrived this morning. It looks very interesting, I read that for every new book Chevalier writes she completely redecorates her study - paints the walls, adds artefacts and books that will help with her research on her new topic. I wonder what she chose for this title?

Read this while on holiday. Nice easy holiday read, left in the hotel.