Angel's Gate

by Gary Crew

When a gold digger is murdered in Kimmy's small Australian town, one of the man's wild children comes to live in Kimmy's home, and the two children build a friendship that will change them both.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Dr Gary Crew, author of novels, short stories and picture books for older children and young adults, began his writing career in 1985, when he was a high school teacher. His books are challenging and intriguing, often based on non-fiction. As well as writing fiction, Gary is a Associate Professor in Creative Writing, Children's and Adult Literature, at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland and editor of the After Dark series.

He lives with his wife Christine on several acres in the cool, high mountains of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland, Australia in a house called 'Green Mansions' which is shaded by over 200 Australian rainforest palms he has cultivated. He enjoys gardening, reading, and playing with his dogs Ferris, Beulah, and Miss Wendy. In his spare time he has created an Australian Rainforest Garden around his home, filled with Australian palms. Gary loves to visit antique shops looking for curios and beautiful objects.

Gary Crew has been awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the year four times: twice for Book of the Year for Young Adult Older Readers (Strange Objects in 1991 and Angel’s Gate in 1993) and twice for Picture Book of the Year with First Light in 1993 (illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe) and The Watertower (illustrated by Steven Woolman) in 1994. Gary’s illustrated book, Memorial (with Shaun Tan) was awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book in 2000 and short listed for the Queensland Premier’s Awards. He has also won the Wilderness Society Award, the Whitley Award and the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction.

In the USA he has been twice short listed for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Fiction Award for Youth and the Hungry Minds Review American Children’s Book of distinction. In Europe he has twice been and twice the prestigious White Raven Award for his illustrated books. Among his many Australian awards is the Ned Kelly Prize for Crime Fiction, the New South Wales Premier’s Award and the Victorian Premier’s Award. He has been short listed for both the Queensland Premier’s and the Western Australian Premier’s awards for Fiction.

Reviews

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very enjoyable book aimed at younger readers but very suitable for older readers who do not mind a child protagonist. The first person story teller is Kim, whose father is the local doctor in a small rural Australian town somewhere in the middle of nowhere very much.

There is a bush man who is murdered, no one knows by whom, his two children are wild bush children and may have the key to the murder. Eventually they are captured and brought to the doctors house.

That is the outline, the real charm of the book however, are the characters of Kim and Kim's older sister Julia. Their parents, the very Australian town and it's habits all slowly build up a good story. That is what kept me interested throughout.

As a strange side note - despite Kim's gender being mentioned early on as male, I forgot this until after page 100 or so, Kim is a very unformed kind of character which makes him a good vessel to observe the story through.

Also I don't have the pictured edition; my edition is not on goodreads.

[N. Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

EXTREMELY good, very emotional and a lot of beautiful visualization, you learn about the characters like you actually meet them and get to know them, very much like The House of the Scorpion UPDATE: I felt like saying more. Very memorable, and although is has a bit of that sick touch like in Strange Objects by the same author, it is not out of place.

[Kayli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very well-done story. It reminded me a bit of To Kill a Mockingbird. I liked the plot (about a search for two wild kids in the bush of Australia), but what I really liked was the relationship between the brother (main character) and his sister. It was right on. There was also a very funny part about a kid named Keithy Ferguson seeing a girl's bedroom for the first time. Anyway, it's definitely worth checking out.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gary Crew has got to be one of the most underrated Australian authors I’ve ever read. Angel’s Gate, like his other books, while simple and unpretentious, is beautifully written and incredibly vivid and evocative. Crew has a real talent for bringing his characters to life.
I wish this writer was more widely known so that children worldwide could enjoy his magic.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: This rating comes from my 12 year old self, in a recently discovered school assignment.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully crafted tale from one of Australia's finest writers.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was involved in the publication of this this book that I thought at the time could easily have sat in either YA or adult fiction. So it was a tad challenging, for some, and a little hard to classify, which detracted from it sales and potential. But still a damn fine book!

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty easy, and reasonably entertaining read. I can't pinpoint anything that really stood out at all though, which is a shame, considering I read it years ago when I was young and seemed to hold such fond memories of it.

The story revolves around the murder of a drifting scoundrel, his two wild children and a sweet doctor's family. The narration is told by an inquisitive young boy (Kimmy), who observes the towns reaction to such an event and the morbid curiosity of townsfolk, with a somewhat endearing naivety. It really was quite a sweet book. No, sweet it the wrong word. I don't really know how to describe it, it's a story that just is. As you read you just seemed to follow the day to day life of the characters, getting to know them a little bit more with each chapter, living the experience through them. While the writing seemed a little flat at times, which made it difficult to really feel anything whilst reading, the story was engaging enough to keep going. Some of the characters were really awesome. Bobby, so down to earth and honest and little Kimmy, even that seedy Ben Cullen. But I found others to be incredibly cliche and couldn't respond to them. They had the surface character there, but nothing substantial enough to make them seem real.

It really had a lot of potential, and perhaps I have been spoilt with some amazing books of a similar genre, but it just didn't quite hit the mark, although it was enjoyable.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not so much an adventnure story as a suspenseful story set in Australia. The main character is a boy named Kim who is about 10 or 12 and who has an unusually close relationship with his 16-year-old sister. Their parents are the town doctor and nurse and because of that they become involved with a man who ends up being murdered. Besides not knowing who murdered the man, the reader is intrigued by the man's "wild" children who are wandering the hills and espcaping into the town to steal food. The children are eventually captured and Kim is able to get the girl at least to communicate. Meanwhile, there is a subplot centering around the relationship between the older sister and the parents and how the girl thinks she can manipulte them. This book holds the reader's attention, and may even attract some of the horror readers because of the way the "wild" children are portrayed as not quite human for a good portion of the book.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young adult fiction, a murder mystery, set in an Australian country town, I'm guessing around 1975 or maybe earlier. The main character is a young boy, Kim. He is fascinated by the local "wild" children, who run on all fours like bush animals and wonders whether they may have witnessed the murder of their father, Flanagan, a usually reclusive gold prospector and con man...Prime suspects are men working on the dam, who may have been conned by Flanagan, and the town's young police officer, Ben Cullen. The ending was rather satisfying.

[Ashleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book got a bit confused of what it was really about. It started out being a quick read but then I think i simply lost interest. It was a good story, but I think it could have been portrayed a bit better than it was.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Aussie book from the stash---in Australia it won Children's Book of the Year: Older Readers in 1993. (That's me...an older reader). Great characterization, a mystery to solve: was right up my alley.

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valuable Australian literature aimed at middle school or early secondary.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]