Daydreams Of Angels
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Heather O'Neill's distinctive style and voice fill these charming, sometimes dark, always beguiling stories
Heather O’Neill’s unforgettable novels, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and Lullabies for Little Criminals, captured readers with their disarming characters and irreverent descriptions of life on Montreal's St Laurent Boulevard. Here, O'Neill's voice takes flight in a collection of original stories that evoke sorrow, laughter, and heartbreak. From the title story of a naive cult follower in "Dear Piglet" to the struggle of two young women in occupied Paris in “Snow-White and Rose-Red” to the story of generations of failed Nureyev clones in post-Soviet Russia in “The Ugly Ducklings”, these stories surprise and delight at every page, showing once again that Heather O’Neill is a remarkable talent and among our best, most inventive writers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this collection of strange and whimsical stories, O'Neill (The Girl Who Was Saturday Night) explores love and family in present-day Canada through quirky yarns filled with talking animals, modern versions of biblical characters, and countless other curiosities. Many are framed as stories told to children by their grandparents and, as such, are filled with the magical feel of fairy tales, where all things are possible. In the title story, a cherub is sent to Montreal during World War II and falls in love with Yvette, a beautiful and vivacious girl whose father has just been shipped off to fight in Normandy. A grandfather tells his grandchildren about his romantic adventures dating a half-swan, a half-deer, and a monkey-girl while working on Moreau's island in "The Isles of Dr. Moreau." In "Bartok for Children," a Canadian solider is rescued from death during WWII by a French toy maker. The toy maker makes him a new clockwork heart and loves him as if he were his own son, but the toy parts in his body create some unexpected problems. "The Dreamlife of Toasters" centers on an exceptional android in the year 2112, who has an accident that leaves her with the human ability to understand humor. These stories are told with liveliness and wonder, but they often lack depth and complexity. O'Neill is at her best in the longer stories and the ones more grounded in reality, where she has a chance to develop her characters and explore their darkness.
