There are angels all around us. In small town boutiques and large strip malls stores, angel paraphernalia is cropping up everywhere. Whatever its roots, Manette Ansay, a Bennett Fellow at Exeter from 1992-93 has written not only a worthy and engaging book, but a timely one as well. River Angel is a story of the faithful and the faithless in a small town called Ambient, Wisconsin. The capacity for transcendence and the question of who profits from belief are themes that run deep in Ms. Ansay's engrossing novel.
Every major character struggles with accountability in one form or another.
It's an intricate web of characters and histories that keeps the reader wondering where it will all go. Ms. Ansay takes up the subject of spirituality in conflict with modern day cynicism, which seems very relevant in a culture where marriages fail at a rate of 50 percent or higher, and infidelity leads to depression and a loss of identity. Despite the seriousness of these issues, the novel delivers humor with an artist's felicity of language to keep the reader smiling and wondering whose perspective will next take stage. And there is plenty of practical wisdom as well. Parents struggle with what it means to have a child you love and raised slip through your fingers.