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A Jarful of Angels
An evocative literary thriller set in a remote Welsh village. Thirty years ago, in a remote Welsh village, Iffy, Bessie, Fatty and Billy formed a remarkable friendship and enjoyed an impoverished yet magical childhood. That winter they found a skull with its front teeth missing, that summer they experienced a plague of frogs, crept into a garden full of strange statutes, and discovered just what mad Carty Annie had been collecting so secretly in those jars of hers. But at the end of that long, hot summer of 1963, one of them disappeared...Over thirty years later, retired detective Will Sloane, is compelled to return to that strange Welsh town of secrets and lunatics to try to solve the case of the missing child. But before he can finally discover the truth about what happened, he finds himself involved in a number of interlocking mysteries.
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
April 18, 2018
Lovely book!
Afternote April 2018: Thanks Melinda Jane for liking this short review. Now I remember this book and it was really good! Gotta check out the author, see if she's written other books!
Afternote April 2018: Thanks Melinda Jane for liking this short review. Now I remember this book and it was really good! Gotta check out the author, see if she's written other books!
August 6, 2011
This tale from the Welsh valleys was an absolute treat, brimming with comedy and pathos, capturing perfectly the days when children were allowed – and indeed encouraged – to roam freely outdoors. It’s an admirable depiction of childhood in all its irreverent, sweary, sniggering, snotty-sleeved glory, a time when bodily functions are a constant source of fascination and amusement. Particularly the rude ones. The writing is so sure of its time and place it could make you nostalgic for the days of the outside privy even if you were too young to have ever had one.
There is a thread of mystery snaking through it, relating to the disappearance of one of the children, and the author recognises the importance of maintaining the element of suspense by withholding the child’s identity until well into the story. This necessitated some stilted conversation to avoid giving the child’s gender away but it was all done in the best interests of the reader. Worth bearing in mind, also, that there is a glossary at the end which can easily be missed – very useful if you don’t know your pwp from your gwlis.
In all, the best, funniest, foulest-mouthed book I’ve read in a long while – more more more from this excellent author, please!
There is a thread of mystery snaking through it, relating to the disappearance of one of the children, and the author recognises the importance of maintaining the element of suspense by withholding the child’s identity until well into the story. This necessitated some stilted conversation to avoid giving the child’s gender away but it was all done in the best interests of the reader. Worth bearing in mind, also, that there is a glossary at the end which can easily be missed – very useful if you don’t know your pwp from your gwlis.
In all, the best, funniest, foulest-mouthed book I’ve read in a long while – more more more from this excellent author, please!
October 17, 2016
A beautifully written book, capturing so truthfully the language, beliefs and misunderstandings of children of the 1950s and 1960s. I found myself highlighting so many parts which took me back to my childhood, especially the sweet shop, the holy water, the wooden biscuit barrel, and the sandals with creamy-coloured crepe soles. And the opening chapter comes across as an homage to Dylan Thomas. The four children are wonderfully developed; as the mystery unfolded I held my breath, waiting to find out which one had disappeared. The device of telling part of the story through the eyes of Will Sloane, thirty years later, worked very well. I was confused by the angels in the jars, but in the end it didn't matter. And I agree with other reviewers that categorising this as crime fiction does not tell the whole story and risks putting off some potential readers. A lovely first novel. I will read more by Babs Horton.
Read
July 29, 2011This book was slow to get started, but once it built momentum it was impossible to put down. A very well structured mystery. Entertaining and intriguing at the same time. Switching between the children in the past and the investigator in the present really made the characters live in a way many mysteries don't. I found it led to a very satisfying ending and am keen to read the next one.
May 5, 2024
Took me a while to get into this book and then ended with more questions than answers
April 2, 2010
People generally seem to love this book, but I'm sorry it really wasn't one for me. While the writing was something really different, and there were some lovely observations, I got very tired of the child's eye view and the slow unfolding of the modern story got me really quite frustrated.
Read
March 11, 2009never read a book by a woman named BABS.
December 27, 2014
I really couldn't get into this. Life's too short for books that don't grab you.
October 9, 2018
I’m not really sure how to categorise this book so I’ll simply say that as a tale of childhood with all the grim realities of adults misunderstanding you the poverty of life driven to the edges by the magical world that only children can create and yet realism seeps through as an adult watches the world filtered through the eyes of children.
Iffy, Bessie, Fatty and Billy live in a small welsh village, the sort that those of us who grew up as late as the seventies can recognise as being every and any small town. There are the local characters, the woman swapping gossip and keeping secrets and the men who roar in the background. There is the local haunted house, I have yet to find a child yet who was free to roam who didn’t have the local haunted house, the graveyards and the like to give themselves a jolly good scare each and every time boredom threatened.
The our children play in the remote town, in the shadow of the pits, in the long hot summer of 1963. They find a garden full of dancing statues, they peer into mad Carty Annie’s wares and they visit the shopkeeper for the sweets that they will suck so hard that they cause burns on their tongues. As the heat rises they are rained on by frogs and they find a skull and they find a jar full of angels. But what does it all mean, if anything? And then by the end of the summer just three of the four children remain, one is missing.
Thirty years later Will Sloane one of the policemen who searched for the missing child, returns to the town. Over the years he has been haunted, as policemen often are, by the case that was never solved. The clues that he is able to uncover lead to interlocking mysteries that beg to be unravelled but it is up to our retired detective to find the right key.
The story itself is everything a mystery story should be, but what lifts this tale head and shoulders above others is the lyrical prose and its powerful evocation of a world not yet forgotten but now I fear out of reach. It is a world that lends itself to the unsaid, the rampaging gossip counteracted by secrets kept well hidden, the adults barely alluding to the terrible things that they know.
Although I didn’t grow up in the Wales, I did spend my formative years just across the border albeit at least a decade later than when this story is set. Rarely have I read a book where the children are so well portrayed, so much so that it took me back to my childhood, the excitement at the start of the summer, the adventures that we would have, real or imagined and the characters that played their part in the experience. There were the predictable yells to come home for dinner, to adults wholly unconcerned with how your day had been spent their lives working to a different rhythm full of gossip and sighs and of course those adults who you stayed clear of, the reason to do seldom voiced, its knowledge spread almost by osmosis.
Babs Horton has created a very special book in A Jarful of Angels, one that transcends any real genre and one that means that her brilliantly created characters came to life through her magical prose.
Iffy, Bessie, Fatty and Billy live in a small welsh village, the sort that those of us who grew up as late as the seventies can recognise as being every and any small town. There are the local characters, the woman swapping gossip and keeping secrets and the men who roar in the background. There is the local haunted house, I have yet to find a child yet who was free to roam who didn’t have the local haunted house, the graveyards and the like to give themselves a jolly good scare each and every time boredom threatened.
The our children play in the remote town, in the shadow of the pits, in the long hot summer of 1963. They find a garden full of dancing statues, they peer into mad Carty Annie’s wares and they visit the shopkeeper for the sweets that they will suck so hard that they cause burns on their tongues. As the heat rises they are rained on by frogs and they find a skull and they find a jar full of angels. But what does it all mean, if anything? And then by the end of the summer just three of the four children remain, one is missing.
Thirty years later Will Sloane one of the policemen who searched for the missing child, returns to the town. Over the years he has been haunted, as policemen often are, by the case that was never solved. The clues that he is able to uncover lead to interlocking mysteries that beg to be unravelled but it is up to our retired detective to find the right key.
The story itself is everything a mystery story should be, but what lifts this tale head and shoulders above others is the lyrical prose and its powerful evocation of a world not yet forgotten but now I fear out of reach. It is a world that lends itself to the unsaid, the rampaging gossip counteracted by secrets kept well hidden, the adults barely alluding to the terrible things that they know.
Although I didn’t grow up in the Wales, I did spend my formative years just across the border albeit at least a decade later than when this story is set. Rarely have I read a book where the children are so well portrayed, so much so that it took me back to my childhood, the excitement at the start of the summer, the adventures that we would have, real or imagined and the characters that played their part in the experience. There were the predictable yells to come home for dinner, to adults wholly unconcerned with how your day had been spent their lives working to a different rhythm full of gossip and sighs and of course those adults who you stayed clear of, the reason to do seldom voiced, its knowledge spread almost by osmosis.
Babs Horton has created a very special book in A Jarful of Angels, one that transcends any real genre and one that means that her brilliantly created characters came to life through her magical prose.
May 13, 2023
⭐⭐⭐
𝙰 𝙹𝚊𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚋𝚢 𝙱𝚊𝚋𝚜 𝙷𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚘𝚗
Set in the Welsh valleys in the early 1960s, A Jarful of Angels follows Iffy, Bessie, Fatty and Billy as they navigate their preteen years. The novel perfectly captures what it was like when parents kicked you out of the house in the morning and didn't expect to see you again until they called for you at sunset.
The four youngsters find plenty to do... Lots of running around and spying and cursing and spitting and gossiping and eavesdropping. Horton writes from the perspective of the kids and she does so with relish. I felt almost nostalgic for those days that adults call "carefree" but which kids well know are all life and death.
The town comes very much alive with all of the characters in the community. The the fortune-telling old woman, the kindly ice cream man, the religious maniac, the dangerous lunatic, and the aloof rich lady in the big house to name some. They all have their stories which are a mix of truth and gossip... Much like in any small town.
At the end of their summer, however, one of the four goes missing without a trace. A retired detective comes back to the town over thirty years after the event to try to solve the case that has haunted him all these years.
The novel switches back and forth in time to slowly uncover the truth of several mysteries in the story. I did feel that the story rushed the ending and tied up 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 loose ends rather quickly but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment.
Admittedly, at first I thought it was taking way too long to get to the meat of the mystery (the identity of which child has gone missing isn't even revealed until close to the end), but I soon understood that the mystery isn't the real story... The friendship is. It's all about the camaraderie, the secrets kept, the adventures, the allegiances, and the strong bonds that are forged in those years whether they last or not.
It's a beautiful tale and was well worth my time.
𝙰 𝙹𝚊𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚋𝚢 𝙱𝚊𝚋𝚜 𝙷𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚘𝚗
Set in the Welsh valleys in the early 1960s, A Jarful of Angels follows Iffy, Bessie, Fatty and Billy as they navigate their preteen years. The novel perfectly captures what it was like when parents kicked you out of the house in the morning and didn't expect to see you again until they called for you at sunset.
The four youngsters find plenty to do... Lots of running around and spying and cursing and spitting and gossiping and eavesdropping. Horton writes from the perspective of the kids and she does so with relish. I felt almost nostalgic for those days that adults call "carefree" but which kids well know are all life and death.
The town comes very much alive with all of the characters in the community. The the fortune-telling old woman, the kindly ice cream man, the religious maniac, the dangerous lunatic, and the aloof rich lady in the big house to name some. They all have their stories which are a mix of truth and gossip... Much like in any small town.
At the end of their summer, however, one of the four goes missing without a trace. A retired detective comes back to the town over thirty years after the event to try to solve the case that has haunted him all these years.
The novel switches back and forth in time to slowly uncover the truth of several mysteries in the story. I did feel that the story rushed the ending and tied up 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 loose ends rather quickly but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment.
Admittedly, at first I thought it was taking way too long to get to the meat of the mystery (the identity of which child has gone missing isn't even revealed until close to the end), but I soon understood that the mystery isn't the real story... The friendship is. It's all about the camaraderie, the secrets kept, the adventures, the allegiances, and the strong bonds that are forged in those years whether they last or not.
It's a beautiful tale and was well worth my time.
May 17, 2017
The main story is set in a Welsh village in 1963: impoverished families, unwed mothers, damaged people, lots of secrets. Four children who get up to lots of mischief, who don't always understand what they see and hear, and then one of the children vanishes.
The second part of the tale is told thirty years later, with the narrative interwoven with the earlier tale. Will Sloane, retired, has always been haunted by what he didn't understand about the child's disappearance.
This is a lively plot, but I think the author tried too hard to keep the identity of the missing child secret. As a result there is a lot of confusing detail, because there is more to the story than just a missing child. For a small village there are lots of secrets and mysteries, made even more mysterious because we see so much of them through a child's eyes.
January 22, 2020
I did not enjoy this book. It had far too much swearing for my liking but i persevered because i don't like leaving a book unfinished (once i start reading a book i have to read it through until the end). just over half way through the book got slightly better but i was disappointed with the ending so would not willingly read books from this author again.
June 10, 2021
I wanted to give this a 3 and a half (I'm having a run of these 3.5s at the moment!) but obviously that's not an option. I found the story a bit slow and a bit weird towards the end but I did really love the strong descriptions of Welsh Valley life and the way the author evokes a strong sense of time and place with language.
January 6, 2026
Didn’t finish this one it was so shit.
Recommended to me by a patient and receptionist who read it. I didn’t like the writing style at all. It felt chaotic with jumping between different times, characters and even fonts. Just a confusing mess of a book for me. I didn’t even make it 100 pages in and motivating myself to read this book felt like a horrible chore.
Recommended to me by a patient and receptionist who read it. I didn’t like the writing style at all. It felt chaotic with jumping between different times, characters and even fonts. Just a confusing mess of a book for me. I didn’t even make it 100 pages in and motivating myself to read this book felt like a horrible chore.
November 11, 2018
I dislike artificial suspense and felt this book relied, unnecessarily, on that technique to engage readers. There was enough in the setting and characters. But the double twist was good. Though I still have no idea was the jar of angels was.
August 4, 2022
Okay, I have not read a story that did so much to have the reader understand what the characters did not since T.E.D. Klein's "Petey". And yes, I think that one did it better... but it's close.
April 25, 2020
One of the best books I've ever read. This needs to be made into a movie. Touching, inspiring, gritty, beautiful.
October 9, 2025
Plenty of description. However I just got bored two thirds way through and gave up.
September 26, 2013
In this evocative story set in a small Welsh mining village in the early 1960s, four children spend the summer playing together, but violence, abuse and lies overshadow their innocent play, and by the end of the summer, one of them will disappear.
Written from the perspective of the children themselves in 1963, and the detective who thirty years later cannot let cancer take him without trying to solve the one case that has always haunted him, this book held me captivated. I far preferred the chapters deep in the children’s point of view, and was entraced by Fatty and the town eccentric, Carty Annie, with her mutterings, and her jarful of angels.
Horton makes no judgements on the villagers, she simply shows them through the eyes of the children, and the reader is able to draw many more conclusions about the adults of the mining town than the children themselves. The straightforward honesty, the real and imagined fears of childhood, and openness of childhood friendships rings so true and is so well described, I felt echoes from my own childhood in this book.
As the plot circles closer and closer to the tradgedy you know from retired detective Will Sloane must be coming, I was almost holding my breath, hoping the child that had to be sacrificed wasn’t Fatty. He is one of those shining characters that live in your thoughts long after you close the book. Everything about this poignant, vivid novel is a joy.
Written from the perspective of the children themselves in 1963, and the detective who thirty years later cannot let cancer take him without trying to solve the one case that has always haunted him, this book held me captivated. I far preferred the chapters deep in the children’s point of view, and was entraced by Fatty and the town eccentric, Carty Annie, with her mutterings, and her jarful of angels.
Horton makes no judgements on the villagers, she simply shows them through the eyes of the children, and the reader is able to draw many more conclusions about the adults of the mining town than the children themselves. The straightforward honesty, the real and imagined fears of childhood, and openness of childhood friendships rings so true and is so well described, I felt echoes from my own childhood in this book.
As the plot circles closer and closer to the tradgedy you know from retired detective Will Sloane must be coming, I was almost holding my breath, hoping the child that had to be sacrificed wasn’t Fatty. He is one of those shining characters that live in your thoughts long after you close the book. Everything about this poignant, vivid novel is a joy.
November 25, 2017
Mmm....not really sure what to say about this book. It is very atmospheric & the feel of life in the small Welsh town is really brought to life. The children themselves are a bit of a mixed bunch; Billy can't/won't talk, Fatty is neglected by his parents, Iffy is a bright orphan cared for by her grandparents & Bessie is spoilt (she always made me think of Nellie Oleson from "Little House on the Prairie" with her ringlets, frills & gingham!)
& all of them are unaware of the secrets hidden in their own families past. The rest of the village seems to consist of more than their fair share of weirdoes!
Interwoven with the tale of the four's childhoods is the story of a dying detective determined to solve the mystery of the child who went missing 40 years before - though it's not until nearly the end that the reader actually discovers which of the four children it was.
Overall I quite enjoyed this book & was determined to read it all if only to find out who the unlucky child was. I did find the story muddling in parts as it didn't always seem to flow well. It's been one of those books that after putting it down has left me a bit unsatisfied, as I keep thinking of bits that have left me confused. Maybe it would benefit from a second reading but I can't see that happening as I have too many "new" books to get through :o)
& all of them are unaware of the secrets hidden in their own families past. The rest of the village seems to consist of more than their fair share of weirdoes!
Interwoven with the tale of the four's childhoods is the story of a dying detective determined to solve the mystery of the child who went missing 40 years before - though it's not until nearly the end that the reader actually discovers which of the four children it was.
Overall I quite enjoyed this book & was determined to read it all if only to find out who the unlucky child was. I did find the story muddling in parts as it didn't always seem to flow well. It's been one of those books that after putting it down has left me a bit unsatisfied, as I keep thinking of bits that have left me confused. Maybe it would benefit from a second reading but I can't see that happening as I have too many "new" books to get through :o)
December 19, 2016
Four imaginative children. One magical summer. One terrible secret.
'Stoop down and run your fingers through the damp soil and there in the black coal earth you will find the splintered remnants of tiny bones and the fragments of a hundred broken jars, jars that once held so terrible and so marvellous a secret.'
The remote town in the Welsh valleys was a wonderful, magical - but sometimes dangerous - place in which to grow up. It was there that Iffy, Bessie, Fatty and Billy experienced a plague of frogs one summer, stumbled upon a garden full of dancing statues, found a skull with its front teeth missing - and discovered just what it was that mad Carty Annie was collecting so secretly in those jars of hers.
But at the end of that long, hot summer of 1963, one of the four children disappeared.
Over thirty years later, retired detective Will Sloane, never able to forget the unsolved case, returns to Wales to resume his search for the truth. His investigation will draw him into a number of interlocking mysteries, each one more puzzling than the last.
Written in a rich, sensuous and lyrical prose style full of the sights and sounds of childhood, A Jarful of Angels is a mesmerising, evocative - and wholly unforgettable - novel of psychological suspense.
'Stoop down and run your fingers through the damp soil and there in the black coal earth you will find the splintered remnants of tiny bones and the fragments of a hundred broken jars, jars that once held so terrible and so marvellous a secret.'
The remote town in the Welsh valleys was a wonderful, magical - but sometimes dangerous - place in which to grow up. It was there that Iffy, Bessie, Fatty and Billy experienced a plague of frogs one summer, stumbled upon a garden full of dancing statues, found a skull with its front teeth missing - and discovered just what it was that mad Carty Annie was collecting so secretly in those jars of hers.
But at the end of that long, hot summer of 1963, one of the four children disappeared.
Over thirty years later, retired detective Will Sloane, never able to forget the unsolved case, returns to Wales to resume his search for the truth. His investigation will draw him into a number of interlocking mysteries, each one more puzzling than the last.
Written in a rich, sensuous and lyrical prose style full of the sights and sounds of childhood, A Jarful of Angels is a mesmerising, evocative - and wholly unforgettable - novel of psychological suspense.
August 2, 2014
Toss a jigsaw in the air, watch it fall all jumbled, and then, so suddenly, just when you think it is simply a mess, it resolves, like a magic eye picture in stunning 3D.
The writing here is lovely: such a sense of how kids talk and think, and how the world of adults is a mystifying tangle of metaphor.
My tangles with this are two fold: first, is the actual jar of angels a metaphor or actually there? The other tangle is that if the case was that easy to solve why did it take Will Sloane so long to solve it if all he had to do was bounce down to the Convent and pick up the suitcase?
But after all that, I am still thinking about the book, and how crafted it is. The plot is there for you to find if you have the ear for it. Cleverly done, four stars. No, perhaps even five.
Started 31-7-14 and finished 31-7-14.
The writing here is lovely: such a sense of how kids talk and think, and how the world of adults is a mystifying tangle of metaphor.
My tangles with this are two fold: first, is the actual jar of angels a metaphor or actually there? The other tangle is that if the case was that easy to solve why did it take Will Sloane so long to solve it if all he had to do was bounce down to the Convent and pick up the suitcase?
But after all that, I am still thinking about the book, and how crafted it is. The plot is there for you to find if you have the ear for it. Cleverly done, four stars. No, perhaps even five.
Started 31-7-14 and finished 31-7-14.
March 15, 2010
This book had an almost poetic start. Though this didn't last the story grips you in its mystery and carries you along at a gentle pace of bygone years. The characters have a realness that adds to the whole, bringing to life the words. Fatty reminded me of Tom Sawyer which really made him grow on me. If there was a weakness it would be the need of the author to describe everyone and thing in a little to much detail, yet I suppose that helped to build a good picture at the beginning but towards the end I just wanted to find out what happened, the answer to the question. What happened to Fatty Bevan? And what a surprise it was when I got my answer. If I could give this four and a half I would but it isn't far off a five.
October 2, 2023
7/10
I like how two different time periods are at concurrent play here. It allows for some interesting storytelling. I like how the child's identity was withheld until the end. But I also feel like this book struggled to fully grip me. Don't get me wrong its entertaining enough to read, but it could have been so much better. The storyline with the detective is kinda boring and I was really hoping it was going to go somewhere else than where it did.
I like how two different time periods are at concurrent play here. It allows for some interesting storytelling. I like how the child's identity was withheld until the end. But I also feel like this book struggled to fully grip me. Don't get me wrong its entertaining enough to read, but it could have been so much better. The storyline with the detective is kinda boring and I was really hoping it was going to go somewhere else than where it did.
July 28, 2011
I enjoyed this and have wanted to read it for a long time. The author lives in Plymouth and is Welsh (like me) and I actually taught her children (as well as the fact they attended the same primary school as mine!). I could not wait to find out the truth behind the mysteries and it brought back so many memories of my childhood, growing up in Wales. Well done Babs Horton!
September 11, 2012
The story of the events leading up to the disappearance of a child in the early 1960s which is told contemporaneously by that child and friends alongside a story told in the present day by a policeman who worked on the original case and is looking back at it. Lots of humour in the children's story from their outlook on life but also a well-crafted mystery with plenty of twists.
June 26, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. Maybe because I'm from a Welsh valley and so loved the detail of life in the sixties. I would have been the same age as the children at the time the book was set and I can remember playing in the gwlis, the Italian cafes etc.
The story was good too. I could have done without the final twist but others might like it. A great holiday read.
The story was good too. I could have done without the final twist but others might like it. A great holiday read.
February 7, 2010
An excellent read. Takes you back to your own childhood (especially if you are my age).The things they come out with are so funny.All the main characters are a joy and you really feel like you are their friend. Don't think I will read better this month.
March 24, 2009
I absolutely loved this. The story has humour, darkness, long kept secrets and the ability to make you remember that magical feeling of being a child in a puzzling and sometimes frightening adult world.
January 3, 2010
I liked this book. It had the mystery that kept you wanting to know what was going to happen next, plus the interaction of young children growing up in the Welsh valleys in the summer of 1963. It is wrapped up in rich prose underlaying with psychological suspense.
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