Grievous Angel

by Jane Hill

Book Overview

It has been twenty years since Justine Fraser last saw Nicky Bennet, twenty years since he abruptly took off for Hollywood. Justine cannot forget his offbeat charisma, his sly half-smile, or the time he surprised her by flying across the Atlantic to propose to her on a beach. But she also cannot forget the way he disappeared without a word of explanation.

Now reports have surfaced that Nicky has vanished again, this time from the set of his...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060745290
• ISBN13: 9780060745295
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Been there, done that!

I couldn't put this book down, so powerful were the emotional parallels to what I was feeling right along with the main character. Having had a similar experience to the one in the story, I acutely identified with the central dilemma of loss and the unanswered questions when someone vital `disappears'. But beyond my personal identification with the story, I found it to be an excellent hybrid of 'chick lit' (not usually my favorite genre) and psychological thriller, surprisingly intense. The writing is first-rate and all the threads of the narrative weave together with great clarity. The author takes a few truly unexpected turns in the plotting which serve to propel the story to its inevitable conclusion, a fated closure which is presaged at several turns in the narrative if one reads closely. In the main, this is a story that asks 'What is the nature of love?' At the same time, there is a fun-house mirror quality to the psychological distortions that propel the two main protagonists, Justine Fraser and Nicky Bennet, lovers who meet during the English Justine's study-abroad sojourn at Lowell University in the U.S. After a stop-and-start relationship that spans two years, the mercurial and quirky Nicky Bennet eventually, and unexpectedly, rises from a starring role in an indie film to superstardom, and Justine, while unable to stop grieving over the losses in her life, never hears from him again, until he disappears from the set of his most recent film, leaving a cryptic message which is unmistakably meant to catch her attention. Their story is fated to become a complex psychological game, which ultimately explores the question of how and why we are drawn to certain others and why time doesn't loosen their hold on us, whether we are truly free to choose our course or whether fate will lead us inevitably back toward the place from which we began our journey. Nicky Bennet's favorite music is the country rock of '60s musician Gram Parsons, from whose song, 'Return of the Grievous Angel', the book's title is taken. The song isn't quoted in the book, but the closing lyrics may provide a clue to the story: "Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down And they all lead me straight back home to you"

Engrossing!

Who hasn't carried a torch for an old flame? Where is the line between "what if" daydreaming, and obsession? Jane Hill has written a book from the point of view of a woman who can't let go of memories of a college love, and she absolutely nails it. With dark, self-deprecating wit, Hill's Justine struggles to understand what happened to the relationship, and what might she have to do with the current disappearance of Nicky, who has become a film star. Hill describes Justine's thoughts and emotions with an intensity that keeps you from putting the book down. I don't know what the reviewer at Publishers Weekly was thinking, but he or she needs to try to remember what first love is like, and how hard it can be to overcome betrayal. Justine is inclined to melancholy, but she is smart and funny about it, and the book rings very true. I'm looking forward to more from this auther.