Angel

and utterly irresponsible fantasist, not to mention a born

and ingenious liar, without which all her art would go for naught.

Angel, at any rate, is the story of such a monster. Angelica

Deverell lives above her diligent drab mother’s grocery shop

in a dreary turn-of-the-century English neighborhood, but

spends her days dreaming of handsome Paradise House, where

her aunt is enthroned as a maid. But in Angel’s imagination,

she is the mistress of the house, a realm of lavish opulence, of

evening gowns and peacocks. Then she begins to write popular

novels, and this fantasy, and her incredible will to achieve it,

becomes her whole life. Angel is confidant, ambitious, selfish,

and successful, and she lets no one—mother, aunt, editor, best

friend, husband—stand in her way.

Elizabeth Taylor’s Angel, unlike Angel’s own novels, is self-aware,

funny, and subtly layered. It both sharply satirizes its protagonist

and acknowledges the intensity of her imagination and

the rigor of her work, all the while seeing her as fully human,

complicated, and even sympathetic.

and novelist. Her first novel, At Mrs Lippincote’s, was published

in 1945 and was followed by eleven more, along with five

volumes of short stories and a children’s book, Mossy Trotter.

Hilary Mantel is an English novelist, short story writer, and

critic. Her novel, Wolf Hall, won the Man Booker Prize in 2009.