Angel Train
By Elizabeth Smither
Review by Renata
The four novellas collected here allow one of NZ’s pre-eminent writers to flex the full range of skills she’s honed over decades: the focus required by short stories; the more expansive time frames and character development enabled by a novel; the spotlit significance and clarity of poetry.
Though the stories aren’t linked by plot, setting or character, they nevertheless share strong recurrent themes. All feature strong female characters who take decisive, even subversive actions to shape their own lives. All interrogate the nature of time and the capacity for actions taken in one life to echo through years, and even centuries.
Smithers’ curiosity and her insight into the human heart and mind is palpable throughout. For fans of Fiona Kidman, Fiona Farrell and Elizabeth Strout.
