
Tree of Angels
Penny Sumner(Author)
Orion (Publisher)
Published on 17. June 2004
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-7528-6126-5 (ISBN)
Description
A house carved fine as a jewellery box, a painted garden, an angel in a palm tree. These are only some of the marvels of the Russian estate on which Nina Karsavina grows up, surrounded by her beautiful mother, her eccentric father, Katya her elder sister and the housekeeper Darya who teaches her the old Russian folktales and traditions. But when her father gradually loses his mind after the death of her mother, Nina takes the difficult decision to leave her homeland behind and to marry a complete stranger. She arrives in England on the brink of the First World War and must adjust to a society very different from her own. Meanwhile, her sister Katya settles in Nice with her feckless husband. Over the next eighty years, the family will scatter across the globe in the wake of the Russian revolution and two world wars. It is only when Nina's own granddaughter Julia, an artist, begins a search for her roots that the family's tragic history can be pieced together for the first time.
Reviews / Votes
'Wonderfully evocative with an epic historical sweep.' WESTERN MAIL 'Penny Sumner's inspired debut novel Tree of Angels ... takes the reader on an emotional journey through pre-revolutionary Russia to war-torn Britain and the tropics of Northern Australia ... wonderfully evocative.' OXFORD TIMES 'This is a great family saga covering 80 years ... There's a great sadness in the book but the story grips the reader from the early days of the century right through the wars and on to the new wrold. It is a meaty book, a story well told ... Sumner's next book will be eagerly awaited.' DUBLIN EVENING HERALDMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
685 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7528-6126-5 (9780752861265)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Penny Sumner has worked as a waitress, a photographer at a dolphin pool and a seller of antiquarian books. She came to England from Australia to do postgraduate studies at Oxford and currently lives with her family in Newcastle upon Tyne, where she works as course leader for the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Northumbria. She has edited a number of anthologies.