Review of "Guardian Angel"

I hadn't realized that this review had gone up on the Gwales web site:

This is the sixth novel in the hugely popular Martha Morgan series. It begins with Martha’s death, but if you are a fan of the character, don’t be put off, as I'm sure you'll like the new heroine just as much.

As a prologue to the main story, there is a very entertaining chapter of how a long forgotten manuscript is found in offices of the London publishers Pickersniff and Jebson. This script is by a Susanna Ravenhill, and it is set in Newport and on Carningli or ‘Angel Mountain’, the setting of the other novels. Susanna Ravenhill is an assumed name, but who is the attractive older woman determined to protect the mountain at all costs?

It is hard to describe the main plot without giving away the first big surprise of the novel. The book is as warm-hearted and heartfelt as all of Brian John’s series. It is at its best on the mountain and in the tight knot of Martha Morgan’s family and community. It is a little less convincing when it leaves there, but there is also a good sequence in Paris and an excellent section where Susanna goes to live in the poorest community of Merthyr Tydfil, a slum area called ‘China’, trying to help the desperate people living there. John really brings to life the hell on earth of the Victorian industrial revolution for the poor fighting to survive.

If you are new to the Carningli series, I would definitely recommend beginning with the first On Angel Mountain. I’m sure it will make you want to read the rest. Guardian Angel is an entertaining addition to the series for fans and I hope it won’t be the last.

Janet Thomas

A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.