The Guardian Angel's Journal by Carolyn Jess-Cooke


'When I died I became a guardian angel'.  So begin the story of Margot Delacroix, reincarnated as the angel Ruth bound to watch over her own life.  She helps the infant Margot into the world from her dying mother's womb, overdosed from heroin.  She watches as Margot suffers years of terrible abuse punctured before finding a happier home, fighting the demons who threaten the life of her and those who would care for her.  But she tries to protect Margot from making the decisions she made in her life, the unravelling of her marriage and the incarceration of her son for murder, she has difficult lessons to learn.

Jess-Cooke's vision is interesting, of a world in which every one of us has a guardian angel watching over us, that at times we can hear and be guided by if only we will listen, and of demons who guide us down the easy path to self destruction and terrible actions.  At times not as well written as it could be, but a compelling plot and interesting idea.  A good read.

Angel: Strange Bedfellows tpb by Christopher Golden

I don't usually read spin offs but I thought I'd pick this up on a whim, I was right. There's none of the developement of character and depth that Joss Whedon brought to an episode of the show. Not my kind of thing, listen to the voices!

Skellig by David Almond

AZ: "When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister's illness, Michael's world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain. Then, one Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the old, ramshackle garage of his new home, and finds something magical. A strange creature - part owl, part angel, a being who needs Michael's help if he is to survive. With his new friend Mina, Michael nourishes Skellig back to health, while his baby sister languishes in the hospital. But Skellig is far more than he at first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael's world changes for ever . . ."

Skellig is a creature trying not to be an angel. A baby clinging to lfe that you want to live as badly as the young boy narrator does. A reminder that although many times I wish I was 'ordinary' I don't have to be:

"They say that shoulder blades are where your wings were, when you were an angel ... They say
that they're where you wings will grow again one day"

"Sometimes I think she's never quite left Heaven and never quite made it all the way here to Earth."