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NEW! OUT IN HARDBACK FROM JUNE 7^th 2007

Listen to me talking about ANGEL

Two girls are inextricably linked by destiny, not choice.

Stephanie is friendless, strange, a misfit.

Freya can't stop seeing angels.

But when one of those angels begins to stalk her, its shadow following her everywhere, Freya is forced to make decisions from which there is no turning back.

Read an extract from Angel

Freya Harrison had always wanted to be an angel. Ever since she could remember she’d wanted wings instead of arms and a halo instead of toys. And perhaps dreams come true, because when she was barely eight years old an angel paid her a fleeting visit.

It was at least seven feet tall, with creamy-white skin, displaying itself in what she later recognized as the classic style: shining, fully-robed, its halo like a mane of golden sunshine.

And male. Definitely a man. Or was it?

Freya had to look twice to be sure. The body was certainly male, and so was the face-structure, but weren’t those lips curiously soft and full, the contour of the eyes almost feminine? Six years later, having devoured everything she could find out about angels, Freya knew the term to apply: androgynous. An appearance neither exclusively male nor female, but somehow both.

The visitation took place on a warm spring night. Freya had been fast asleep in her open-windowed bedroom when the curtains slowly swirled and there he was, like the perfection of a dream ?a glorious angel in the dead of night. He was huge. He seemed too big for her room, or any room for that matter. Despite which, awakening, she hadn’t been alarmed, not afraid at all. On the contrary, it was as if some part of her had been waiting her whole life for him to deftly lift aside that thin bedroom curtain.

An angel. An actual angel.

To gaze in wonder upon such a thing.

She fell in love with his wings at once. Supple feathers. Tips as smooth as the afterglow of sunsets. Just seeing them had made Freya hunger for wide spaces. And when she reached out to touch them it was like dipping her fingers inside light itself.

But the way the bulky, complex wing-joints entered the shoulder-blades scared her. Creeping behind him to sneak a peek, she’d seen how twisted and gnarled it was back there. Didn’t his shoulders hurt? Surely they must ache from having to hold up such big wings all the time?

‘No,?the angel had replied. A subtle, airy voice. A dying eagle on a last flight over one more mountain might have sounded like this.

But it was what the angel did next that shocked her. For years afterwards Freya had trouble controlling her emotions whenever she recalled it. Because tears had sprung from his eyes. Tears that poured freely over his unblemished cheeks, across his sculpted lips and down his smooth throat.

REVIEWS OF ANGEL

¡¥Outstanding prose is married to a suspenseful plot and a quiet humour¡¦  Amanda Craig, THE TIMES

'Stands out for its original subject and plot ...Each book takes McNish into new territory, and this one is both assured and thought-provoking.' Nikki Gamble, THE BOOKSELLER

'Tense, quirky and highly individual, this story has plenty going for it.' Nicholas Tucker, TES

'A deft construction ¡K McNish vividly portrays two worlds in the light of each other, creating a thin space between them that makes for a moving and thought provoking tale.' Huw Thomas, BOOKS FOR KEEPS

¡¥A fascinating read.¡¦ CAROUSEL

¡¥This neat combination of teen angst and behavioural ethics is ¡Kcomplex and charged.¡¦ DAILY TELEGRAPH

'What a book. I simply couldn't put it down ... a highly charged look at personal spirituality... the writing is effortless and elegant and as it slips between character perspectives, Angel never loses an air of authenticity. And at moments, it reaches the sublime. I loved it.' Jill Murphy, THE BOOKBAG

¡¥This unusual fantasy is made plausible by a very strong depiction of the underpinning pattern of teenage anxieties and everyday angst.' Lesley Agnew, THE BOOKSELLER

'Haunting and thought provoking.' CY MAG

¡¥A fantastic read.¡¦ Jo Griffiths, Waterstones

'If you love stories about friendship, this one's a must!' BLISS

 
Background to Angel

Angel is my first novel written explicitly with a teenage audience in mind. I've even flirted with romance - a first for me. I think I've always been interested in the concept of angels (who wouldn't want to have their own guardian angel?). But I didn't want to write about religious angels, commanded by the will of God. Interesting as that notion is, it's been done endlessly. What I wanted was a deeply spiritual being, but secular. And I thought it would be interesting to have a girl who exists betwixt the angelic world and our own: half human and half angel. There would be advantages (she can fly, for a start) but what about the disadvantages? What about all those people as an angel she's meant to care for? What if it is too hard? What if she wants to give up? Can she? How can she possibly live up to the expectations of the angels when she has her own human problems to deal with?

The notion of the dark angel/light angel contrast - one apparently malevolent, the other a classic altruistic angel - came to me early. I wanted to play with these notions. I thought that a real human being would lie somewhere between them as well. I tried to make Freya, my main character, reflect those human qualities: a decent person, but as selfish as the rest of us; wanting to do the right thing, but afraid of making mistakes and endangering herself. In the end, this story became a kind of moral fable about my view on the right way to behave in the world. I didn't mean it to, but books sometimes take on a strange life of their own.