The Garden of Angels
David Hewson
Jan 2021 · W. F. Howes Limited · Narrated by Richard Armitage
5.0star
2 reviewsreport
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13 hr 22 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
At his beloved Nonno Paolo's deathbed, fifteen-year-old Nico receives a gift that will change his life forever: a yellowing manuscript which tells the haunting, twisty tale of what really happened to his grandfather in Nazi-occupied Venice in 1943.
The Palazzo Colombina is home to the Uccello family: three generations of men, trapped together in the dusty palace on Venice's Grand Canal. Awkward fifteen-year-old Nico. His distant, business-focused father. And his beloved grandfather, Paolo. Paolo is dying. But before he passes, he has secrets he's waited his whole life to share.
When a Jewish classmate is attacked by bullies, Nico just watches - earning him a week's suspension and a typed, yellowing manuscript from his frail Nonno Paolo. A history lesson, his grandfather says. A secret he must keep from his father. A tale of blood and madness...Nico is transported back to the Venice of 1943, an occupied city seething under its Nazi overlords, and to the defining moment of his grandfather's life: when Paolo's support for a murdered Jewish woman brings him into the sights of the city's underground resistance. Hooked and unsettled, Nico can't stop reading - but he soon wonders if he ever knew his beloved grandfather at all.
"Gripping and powerful, THE GARDEN OF ANGELS richly evokes the tension and threat of Nazi-occupied Venice. A moving and important novel.” TESS GERRITSEN, author of The Shape of Night
"Vivid and compelling. A richly wrought thriller, a love story and a warning that spans decades. I was thinking about this book for days." SARAH PINBOROUGH, author of Behind Her Eyes
The Palazzo Colombina is home to the Uccello family: three generations of men, trapped together in the dusty palace on Venice's Grand Canal. Awkward fifteen-year-old Nico. His distant, business-focused father. And his beloved grandfather, Paolo. Paolo is dying. But before he passes, he has secrets he's waited his whole life to share.
When a Jewish classmate is attacked by bullies, Nico just watches - earning him a week's suspension and a typed, yellowing manuscript from his frail Nonno Paolo. A history lesson, his grandfather says. A secret he must keep from his father. A tale of blood and madness...Nico is transported back to the Venice of 1943, an occupied city seething under its Nazi overlords, and to the defining moment of his grandfather's life: when Paolo's support for a murdered Jewish woman brings him into the sights of the city's underground resistance. Hooked and unsettled, Nico can't stop reading - but he soon wonders if he ever knew his beloved grandfather at all.
"Gripping and powerful, THE GARDEN OF ANGELS richly evokes the tension and threat of Nazi-occupied Venice. A moving and important novel.” TESS GERRITSEN, author of The Shape of Night
"Vivid and compelling. A richly wrought thriller, a love story and a warning that spans decades. I was thinking about this book for days." SARAH PINBOROUGH, author of Behind Her Eyes
Ratings and reviews
5.0
2 reviews
Rita Maltese
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August 25, 2022
A dramatic story about the nazi's occupation of Venice, but also a story of beautiful souls, love, strength and courage. A journey between past and present, with a final revelation and, mostly important, a realization about memory and its value. Wonderfully written by David Hewson, detailed both in descriptions and historical researches, and especially with an authenticity about the characters. Extraordinarily performed by Richard Armitage, not only with a wide and accurate range of voices, but with a depth and intensity, which bring everyone to life. To be reckoned his efforts about the pronunciation of Italian sites; and, if there are some inaccuracies, they are easily forgiven because of the outstanding general performance.
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