Ohio Angels: A Novel

by Harriet Scott Chessman

Harriet Scott Chessman’s Ohio Angels is an intimate and a lyrical story about friendship and family struggles. Hallie, a painter who now lives in Brooklyn, returns to her family home in Ohio, where she unearths a secret about her parents. Her discovery sheds light on her mother’s depression, which shadowed her own childhood, and helps her understand her own inability to have children. In her hometown, Hallie reconnects with a beloved childhood friend, Rose, who is now a writer and pregnant with her third child.
Chessman beautifully evokes the childhood memories of the two friends, illuminating their very different lives. As in Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper, Chessman’s compassionate and perceptive gaze reveals an entire new world for us—one that is subtle, alive, and deeply honest.

Genres: Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

Harriet Scott Chessman's acclaimed novels include The Beauty of Ordinary Things, Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper, Someone Not Really Her Mother, The Lost Sketchbook of Edgar Degas and Ohio Angels. Her fiction has been translated into eight languages, and featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, NPR’s All Things Considered, and Good Morning America.

She has also created the librettos for two operas, "My Lai" and "Sycorax."

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's beauty to be found, even in the saddest places...

Harriet Scott Chessman makes every word precious. She takes her time. Tenderly, she unearths life's glinting joys and buried sorrows. In this novel, Chessman has created something as intricately lovely as a painting. There's such poignant simplicity to everything she does.

[J. Wynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet Scott Chessman writes about two now-grown former childhood friends from an Ohio college town. Hallie, a New York artist, returns home when her mother, who suffers from depression, experiences a dangerously “low” period. While there, Hallie reconnects with Rose, whose life has taken a very different path from her own. Rose has remained in the town and is about to give birth to her third child. Hallie, who has suffered repeated miscarriages, would appear to have little in common with her old, small-town friend, and yet all these years later, each woman gains strength and renewed purpose from the other. Beautifully written with vibrant descriptions and a strong sense of place, the novel paints a moving portrait of two divergent, yet inexorably connected lives.

[Robin Lyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me forever to read this short book. I just couldn't get in to it. The story was depressing and soooo many details. I like description when it adds to the story but not for the sake of filler. I give it 2 stars because when there was dialog, it was decent.

[Cathy Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

A tiresome read about characters with "issues"...though nothing ever really happens. Although, one of the characters stays in bed for quite some time. Just made me want to stay in bed, too. (Rather than read it.)

[Sonja Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know her style is maybe too associative/elliptical for some, but I cannot get enough of this writer. She tells her stories her way, linking together language and thoughts like a poet, and I for one am hooked. More please.

[Meg Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

novel,1st edition,Signed

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat poetic little novel about a woman who suffered 5 miscarrages and who comes home to visit her mother who has attempted suicide.