Angels Crying: A True Story of Secrecy and Tragedy

by Tom Moore

Book by Moore, Tom

228 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Tom Moore was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He went to Memorial University, graduating with an MA in Canadian literature in 1977 and completed an MEd at the University of Ottawa in 1982.

His first novel, Good-Bye Momma was published by Breakwater Books in 1974 and became a Canadian best seller. It was chosen as a “Children’s Choice” by the Children’s Book Centre in Toronto and was translated into Danish by Monksgaard publishers of Copenhagen in 1982. It was later translated into Romanian by Cite Libra publishers. The CBC produced a radio play version broadcast nationally in 1980. The Canadian Book of Lists called it one of the 10 best children’s books written in Canada. A selection of reviews is attcheded.

Other books followed: The Black Heart, a collection of poetry, published by Harry Cuff Publishers in St. John’s; Wilfred Grenfell, a children’s biography, published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in Toronto.

In 1994 Angels Crying became Moore’s second national best seller, with a national reading tour sponsored by the Canada Council. It is the true story of his student, a sexual assault victim. It has become a case study for a number of university schools of social work, including Memorial University, Dalhousie University, College of the North Atlantic, and the University of Maine at Presque Isle. It was translated into Chinese by New Sprouts publishers of Taipei in 2002.

In 2000 The Plains of Madness, a work of historic fiction, won the inaugural Percy Janes award for best novel manuscript in Newfoundland. His story The Sign on my Father’s House was published as a winning entry in Canadian Storyteller, Toronto, in the summer of 2004.

Several of his poems have been used as operatic song settings nationally and internationally: His poems Ancestors, Songs, and Caplin Scull were broadcast on CBC radio in 1992 by Lyn Channing of the Music Department University of Calgary; and his poem Songs was presented by Peter Mannion and the Galway University Choir in Ireland in 2006. His poem Ancestors was read at the welcoming ceremony for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Newfoundland in 1998.

Moore has been a member of the Writers Union of Canada for years and in 1982 served on the national executive as Atlantic Canada representative. He is also a member of the Writers Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador for years, served on its executive and as president in 1990.




Reviews of Goodbye Momma by Tom Moore

"Good-bye Momma by Tom Moore is a genuinely touching novel about a little boy...who must cope with the pain of his mother's early death and his father's remarriage."
- Chatelaine Magazine

"This writer puts more in 70 pages than most authors can put in 300. The story is so full of incident, of character, of feeling ..."
- In Review

"Most of all he is a strongly believable juvenile character with a background that will be exotic for children his age and older..."
- Toronto Star

"Tom Moore has written a story of childhood in Newfoundland outports, a tale vividly told in a style as fresh as a coastal breeze, and presenting the fears, passions and glories of young children in a very sympathetic way."
- Percy Janes.

"Great art is always the emergence of the universal from the particular...Tom Moore's novel, Good Bye Momma, is an excellent example of writers throughout the country who wear the badge of the particular proudly."
- Emergency Librarian

"The believable detail, the avoidance of sentimentality, the clear and unsyrupy report on the world of childhood is most satisfying and refreshing."
- Ray Guy

"...read it, and remember and be touched."
- The Western Star, Corner Brook

"One of the top two books chosen by the Children's Book Centre of Toronto, Good-Bye Momma is recommended reading for children over 12."
- The Hartland Observer

"Twelve year olds will discover a new friend and a new land in this novel written by a Newfoundlander whose empathy makes it believ

Reviews

[Manon Dupuis · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5. Read in less than 24 hours and I could Not. Put. It. Down.
Although troubling and highly infuriating (especially towards the end), this book is precise and on point with everything that is still wrong to this day with social services, the RCMP, foster care, child welfare services, etc.
Moore did an excellent job at giving the readers the facts while not dismissing the obvious trauma endured by the victims. Everyone in professions involving children should read this!!
Working in a profession where the system is highly involved, you definitely feel a responsibility while reading Angels Crying.
More must be done for children in the system

[Pam Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read, very touching. one that you can't put down once you start reading. Obviously required a lot of research.