Title: Angel Harp
Author: Michael Phillips
Publisher: FaithWords
Publication Date: January 26, 2011
Hardcover: 464 pages
ISBN: 978-0446567718
Genre: Christian Fiction, Romance
Widowed at 34, amateur harpist Marie “Angel” Buchan realizes at 40 that her life and dreams are slowly slipping away. A summer in Scotland turns out to offer far more than she ever imagined! Not only does the music of her harp capture the fancy of the small coastal village she visits, she is unexpectedly drawn into a love triangle involving the local curate and the local duke.
The boyhood friends have been estranged as adults because of their mutual love of another woman (now dead) some years before. History seems destined to repeat itself, with Marie in the thick of it. Her involvement in the lives of the two men, as well as in the community, leads to a range of exciting relationships and lands Marie in the center of the mystery of a long-unsolved local murder. Eventually she must make her decision: with whom will she cast the lot of her future?
My Review:
Angel Harp by Michael Phillips is a beautiful novel about Angel Dawn Marie Buchan who became a widower at the age of thirty-four and by her fortieth birthday she realises some of her dreams can still be followed. She packs and with harp in hand travels to Scotland where she quickly learns she is looking to become a part of a community and is drawn to Port Scarnose where she finds herself staying on much longer than she ever intended. Phillips is a beautiful writer; each page is filled with lyrical prose and vivid imagery, especially when describing Scotland and the music of the harp. The characters are extremely well developed, easy to relate with and quite charming. Phillips occasionally writes in the Doric dialect spoken in the region and makes certain to include a dictionary of words to assist the reader. At first I was concerned switching from English to the Doric dialect would be confusing and cause the book to have a disjointed feel, but Phillips creates a smooth transition to the point where soon I did not even notice the shifts. Angel Harp is Christian fiction, in a non-preachy manner, and a beautiful story of a woman coming into her own. The reader will be drawn to Marie Buchan and Gwendolyn, a musical protégée. Beautiful, lyrical with a delightful cast of characters and a rich storyline, Angel Harp is an excellent choice for any reader.
Michael Phillips has been writing in the Christian marketplace for 30 years. All told, he has written, co-written, and edited some 110 books. Phillips and his wife live in the U.S., and make their second home in Scotland.
I received a complimentary ARC of Angel Harp by Michael Phillips from Hachette to review. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.
Recent Comments