Angels of Destruction

A Novel

By: Keith Donohue

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Keith Donohue’s first novel, The Stolen Child, was a national bestseller hailed as “captivating” (USA Today), “luminous and thrilling” (Washington Post), and “wonderful...So spare and unsentimental that it’s impossible not to be moved (Newsweek).

His new novel, Angels of Destruction, opens on a winter’s night, when a young girl appears at the home of Mrs. Margaret Quinn, a widow who lives alone. A decade earlier, she had lost her only child, Erica, who fled with her high school sweetheart to join a radical student group known as the Angels of Destruction. Before Margaret answers the knock in the dark hours, she whispers a prayer and then makes her visitor welcome at the door. The girl, who claims to be nine years old and an orphan with no place to go, beguiles Margaret, offering some solace, some compensation, for the woman’s loss. Together, they hatch a plan to pass her off as her newly found granddaughter, Norah Quinn, and enlist Sean Fallon, a classmate and heartbroken boy, to guide her into the school and town. Their conspiracy is vulnerable not only to those children and neighbors intrigued by Norah’s mysterious and magical qualities but by a lone figure shadowing the girl who threatens to reveal the child’s true identity and her purpose in Margaret’s life. Who are these strangers really? And what is their connection to the past, the Angels, and the long-missing daughter?

Angels of Destruction is an unforgettable story of hope and fear, heartache and redemption. The saga of the Quinn family unfolds against an America wracked by change. As it delicately dances on the line between the real and the imagined, this mesmerizing new novel confirms Keith Donohue’s standing as one of our most inspiring and inventive novelists.

©2009 Keith Donohue (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

“Norah’s unexplained origins form the enigmatic core of this story . . . the novel movingly illustrates the quest for connection hardwired into every human heart.”—Publishers Weekly

“[A] strange and finely written novel. Donohue has a talent for using small details to draw his characters, and the result is a dark and unsettling story that takes hold of the reader.” —Library Journal

“Fused with spectral imagery and magnetic characters, Donohue’s ethereal foray into the unexpected consequences of love, impenetrable depths of loss, and infinite possibilities of faith is a chilling yet affirmative experience.” —Booklist

Angelic

When a nine-year old walks up to the front door of Margaret Quinn, her life begins anew. There is little question Margaret will keep the girl called Nora and she is fully dubbed Nora Quinn. Margaret quickly creates a story tied to her long-lost daughter Erica who walked away when she was just 17 and was rarely heard from again. Nora becomes a willing, and excellent conspirator in the story and for almost two months they pull it off. But then Nora begins to exhibit signs and wonders and claims to be an angel. What now? In Book Two, the story then turns to Erica and her travels since running away with Wiley, a wanna-be revolutionary. But the road, and the cause, begin to wear on Erica and as they head west, she begins to see Wiley, and the world, for what it is and what it might be. In Book Three worlds collide and at the end we are left with one solitary character who had a foot in all of them. Once again, Keith Donohue weaves a fascinating, riveting fantasy that is easy to believe. But more importantly, he makes you want to believe. The listener is drawn into the story almost immediately. The writing is clear and concise and the listener can actually see the action and the characters down to each hand movement. You know the people inside out because they are from your town, your street. They are the people next door living lives in an ordinary way. And then something small and brief, but extraordinary happens and life changes. And Donohue manages to make you believe that the same can happen to you - and perhaps has but we haven't recognized it. The book cannot be compared to Donohue's Lost Child because it is so different, but equally well done. The pace of the book makes it a page turner, yet without any "shoot 'em up" action. It is a mystery without being a mystery; a fantasy without being a fantasy. It is a fabulous book and well read by Campbell.

Great Book

If you enjoyed Keith Donohue's "The Stolen Child", you'll enjoy this one. It was worth the two credits.

loved it!

want to read more from this author! great narrator! this is the second book I've read by Keith Donohue and I'm going to get his other selections as well.

So so

This book was kind of slow, and I found myself feeling bored with the story.

Great reading, Great Story

Better than his first book, you may be bothered by it if you have issues with books that don't align with literal interpretation of Scripture.

Entertaining

This was an ok listen, but not one of my favorites. I liked the narrator and thought the story had a lot of promise, but it just did not quite live up to my expectations.

Not as good as..

Not as good as the stolen child. This story is purposefully confusing and meandering, without any obvious purpose for the main character, who should certainly have a purpose (they're an angel.)