In the Company of Angels: A Novel

by N.M. Kelby

A compelling novel of dark miracles and angelic visitation, set in a Nazi-occupied Belgian town that is scented by chocolate and haunted by war. It is World War II, a small village in France near the border of Belgium. Marie Claire is a young French Jew, cared for by her grandmother, who cultivates flowers. A shattering of glass, and Marie Claire's village is in rubble. Her grandmother is dead, everyone is dead. She flees to the root cellar of her grandmother's house and waits . . . She is saved by two Belgian nuns who take Marie Claire away to their convent in Tournai, Belgium, where they have been hiding Jews for transport to Switzerland. It is then that the miracles begin. Is Marie Claire causing them The answer to that question remains mysterious until the last pages of this entirely original debut. In a town scented with chocolate, haunted by memories of the past and the desperation of the present, the miraculous is sometimes hard to recognize. A suspenseful novel of enormous power and sensitivity, In the Company of Angels introduces a distinctly imaginative new voice in fiction.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Belgium, Magical Realism, Religion, Historical, Book Club

164 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Dr. Nicole Mary Kelby is the critically acclaimed international author of seven novels including THE PINK SUIT, WHITE TRUFFLES IN WINTER and the New York Times bestseller IN THE COMPANY OF ANGELS. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a Bush Artist Fellowship in Literature, Florida Book Award, and both the Florida and Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship. She is toured and translated worldwide. Her forthcoming novel, A SMALL HISTORY OF THE KNOWN WORLD, is based on the lives of Mark Twain and his epileptic daughter Jean. Set the day before Christmas Eve, throughout the course of a meal, these two broken mercurial creatures inch towards love, disaster, and the tragic secret of the angels of Venice. Kelby lives with Irish sculptor Alan Milligan. With their wee dog in tow, they divide their time between their two countries.

Reviews

[L.K. Rigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the review I wrote at Amazon in 2001:

From the opening scene, I was hooked. Then, author N.M. Kelby pulled me through a slipstream between reality and greater reality, Here and There. In the Company of Angels is deceptively brief. But like poetry, each word, phrase and image is loaded with deep meaning. This eerie, sweet, sad, horrible and beautiful story is loaded with small feasts for the imagination. I can speak for the book's haunting quality; the characters have not left me yet.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a small French village near the border with Belgium, Marie Claire, a young Jewish girl, lives with her grandmother who cultivates hybrid irises and roses. It is World War II and a bomb shatters the world Marie Clare knows. Rescued by a pair of Catholic nuns she is taken across the border to their convent in Tournai, Belgium for safekeeping. This is where the nuns have been hiding Jews who await transport to Switzerland. But the Germans are apparently on to their role in the resistance and have planned a raid on the convent. And then the miracles begin to happen.

This haunting debut novel is full of magical realism and religious mysticism. Told in a series of vignettes with limited connective narrative, the reader feels as if s/he is watching the story unfold as if refracted through a series of prisms. Images are so close and vivid, and yet fuzzy and out of reach, lending to the mystical atmosphere. Excepting the innocent 7-year-old Marie Claire, all the characters are full of regrets and struggling to balance devotion with obligation, love with war, and faith with loss of hope.

I enjoyed this short (164 pg) novel, and I am a fan of magical realism, but I'm left feeling a little dissatisfied. I think Kelby might have expanded some of the scenes and worked harder to provide some connective narrative to support the story arc. I liked it, but I’m struggling with whether to recommend it, or to whom. Readers with a high tolerance for ambiguity might enjoy it.

[Boots LookingLand · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this, but the language was so overblown, it was impossible to get invested in the characters. Now and then there would be an exquisite line and immediately following a clunker of a metaphor that stopped you short.

All the while reading, I felt as though I was looking at an impressionistic painting in which all the color had been leeched out. Normally I love something in this style, but perhaps what felt like an ultimate pointlessness in the plot overall undercut any hope of this novel touching me in any way.

I would be willing to read something else by this author, however. I think there's promise here.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because it was difficult to figure out where dream ended and reality began in this novel, the linear plot was hard to follow. However, somewhere along the way, the journey was so beautiful and enchanting that linear plot seemed almost beside the point. Besides, it's entirely possible to read this book in one delightful sitting. I love Kelby's poetic writing and her fascinating characters. She has brilliantly managed to say and do so much with few words!

[Betty-Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miracles. Angels. Dreamlike. I must read it again.

Re-read. Better the second around. 😊

[Theodora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the writing. Some disturbing images though.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hesitate to say how much I loved this book, and how deeply I was moved; I keep buying additional copies and I don't want them to run out. This book qualifies as "prose poetry". It is written in beautiful, evocative language, is rich in images and wonderful, but easily understood symbols and metaphors; it resonates on a spiritual level, without dogma. Amazingly poignant and uplifting, even the "evil people" are not unsalvageable; even the darkest heart has some good.
This is not only one of my favorite books, both for the beautiful language, well delineated characters, simple and believable storyline, and for the richly, deeply inspiring humanity. I've given it to several people, who have in turn given it to several of their closest friends. This is one of the best books I have ever read.

[Carol Luce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely, thought-provoking, and haunting story. I couldn't put it down, and found myself rereading passages that were brilliant and moving. I absolutely loved the scene with the Commander in the chocolate factory, the description of the truffles on the white paper lace--visually horrifying. The settings, the circumstances, the action of the characters are so telling, so real. Ms. Kelby has done a beautiful job weaving this magical story together. Tying up all the loose ends, staying true to the theme, describing the horrors of the holocaust in a subtle, yet compelling manner, all the way to the more than satisfying conclusion.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was way out there - very descriptive, very imiginative, lots of great detail in some of the scenery. But the characters in the book, their complex relationships, and events that happen along the way, all seemed unrealistic. It was hard to keep straight whether events were "real", "imaginative" or just plain manifestations of mental illness. I didn't "get" any message or theme from this book other than death happens... or does it?

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure if it is just my mood lately or not. I started out thinking this will be a really good book. I also thought it might be uplifting, and I guess that depends on your idea of uplifting. For me it was weird and actually a bit depressing. Like I said it could just be Me and my current hurried mood and maybe I will like it later???

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a lyrical quality that captivated me. Kelby's descriptive phrases have always stuck with me like "a dress that smelled like Tuesdays..."

[Arma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. It was very confusing. I think I got the main idea, but to be honest, I'm not really sure. I had trouble determining if characters were dead or alive. Luckily it was a short book, so I did decide to finish it. If it had been longer, I don't think I would have finished. I would not recommend the book.

[Mo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is kind of a haunting story told in a very dream-like manner. But it jumped around in the story a bit too much. I feel like not a lot happened for how much was written. Really interesting poetic writing though.

[Jean St.Amand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this odd little book, although I was quite lost at the end. Probably if I read it again I'd follow it better, but I won't.

[J.D. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the most poorly written books I've read in a long time. I don't even know where to start other than to say don't waste your time.

[Malena · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 ⭐

[Pam Englefield-Absolum]

Very moving novel, a tale of waretime horrors and miracles.

[Taylor R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, sweet, simple, and special in its purity.

[Anne Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am trying to upgrade my Goodreads reading record. I read this book in pre-blogging, pre-Goodread days for SOTH Book Club on April 2002.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a haunting fable like book akin to the magic realism of Garcia Marquez. During WW11 nuns rescue an enigmatic Jewish girl from the rubble of her village where all others have perished. Amazingly she seems unfazed by her ordeal in a cellar and in remarkably good health considering the circumstances.

But from the start the nuns notice something different about the child. Who or what is she? This is one of the questions they ponder as they too struggle to survive against overwhelming odds,cruelty and the moral dimension of war.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be too weird and depressing for my taste. I still read the whole thing, waiting for some deeper meaning and hope in the end, and there was some smidgen of hope there, but not enough for me. The angels are harsh, it's difficult to tell what is reality and what is not, and the amount of sad, difficult death was just too much for me.

Set in Belgium during the German invasion of WWII, this is the story of a young girl who loses everything, two nuns who lose most everything, and a German soldier who pretty much loses everything.

Kelby's prose is beautiful.

[Jaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

2008: Deeply moving and un-put-down-able! This story reminds us that even when the world seems like such a dark place, light shines and miracles do happen!

2012: So reading the book this time around, I found I wasn't fond of the book's heavy Catholic theme. The story did not sit well with me, and I wasn't entirely sure what the author was trying to say, with all the strange scenes and events, especially towards the end when the 'miracles,' began to happen. Disappointing.

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one's hard to score. The subject matter--protecting a Jewish child during the Nazi invasion of Belgium--was not unusual, but the prose style was. It was very spare and metaphorical--almost poetry. Also unusual was the ambiguity of the line between real events & people and a shadow world of dreams, faith, & angels. A lot of it I didn't get, but I appreciated the effort & think it would probably be more successful for some other readers.

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Between a 2 & 3. I really did like reading it but afterwards was just left feeling confused. I think the author writes well, the book just needed more review.... The story is about a Jewish girl who is saved by 2 Belgian nuns during WWII. And about love & miracles during times of war. I think I just missed some points...It's a very short book...perhaps I would catch more if I read it a second time.

[Sara Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I discovered Kelby earlier this year on a tip from Sarah. This is Kelby's first book and it was just as amazing as Whale Season and even a bit better in some ways. Set in Belgium during WWII, this tells a story of a rescued Jewish girl, the nuns who save her, and how one town comes again to see Jesus.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the imagery and the sense of desolation created in this book. Kelby seems to add sparse elements of color in an otherwise dark and oppressive situation. Even though I don't really believe in miracles- I'd like to. Somehow, it just makes more sense of such a horrific time. I feel like the lives in the story are wrapped up to neatly in the end. My final reaction was ... I only wish.

[Frances Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, lyrical book and a wonderful story. I love Nicole Kelby. She is quite a versatile author, impossible to pigeonhole. Read this book, then read Whale Season. You'll be amazed at the contrast in subject matter and tone, but you will see the skillful writing in both. Highly recommended.

[Joyce Robinson]

I liked the inter-play between Marie Claire, Ann and the nun. I kept hoping I would come to understand what the writer was trying to say in the story. I also kept thinking it might end like The Shack but that never developed. I felt confused most of the time. Would not recommend it to friends who like similar books to me.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the writing of the book was well done. It was very visual and imaginary. I wish there was more in the book about the little girl and her story although it would have made the book have a totally different feel. Good book but not great.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick easy read, not the type of book I would usually read. Beautifully written and has the promise of being a great story, it ends up being a bit of a let down. In saying that I am glad that I read it.