The Mark of the Angel

By: Nancy Huston

Narrated by: Richard Aspel

The year is 1957, and the place is Paris, where the psychic wounds of World War II have barely begun to heal and the Algerian war is about to escalate. Saffie, an emotionally damaged young German woman, arrives on the doorstep of Raphael, a privileged musician who finds her reserve irresistible. He hires her, and over the next few days seduces her and convinces her to marry him.

But when Raphael sends Saffie on an errand to the Jewish ghetto, where she meets András, a Hungarian instrument maker, each of their lives will be altered in startling and unexpected ways. As Saffie learns to feel again, her long buried memories, coupled with the inexorable flow of historical forces beyond anyone's control, create a tableau of epic tragedy.

The Mark of the Angel is a mesmerizing novel of love, betrayal, and the ironies of history.

©1999 Nancy Huston (P)2002 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Once she establishes her story's central ironies, the narrative achieves a relentless velocity.... The Mark of an Angel won the French Prix des Lectrices d'ELLE and the Prix des Librairies in Canada." ( Publishers Weekly)