A Time of Angels

By Patricia Schonstein

ISBN 978-0-06-056243-4

Second place: The Sunday Times Literary Award for Fiction 2004
Short Listed: The Booksellers’ Choice Award 2004

Primo Verona is born with a gift of clairvoyance so strong that he is able to predict his own mother’s death while still in her womb. Brought up on a rich diet of astronomy, philosophy, and storytelling, Primo accurately reads the futures of the local community who pay him in honey cake, tiramisu, and other delicacies.

A tender, witty and engaging fable in which a post-apartheid Cape Town, suffused with the smells of Italian high cuisine, plays host to Lucifer

~ JM Coetzee, 2003 Nobel Laureate for literature

Pasquale Benvenuto is the owner of a beloved wine bar and delicatessen whose culinary reputation rests on recipes for the fruited breads and salamis his father taught him to make.

Together Primo and Pasquale form an easy friendship triangle with the beautiful Beatrice, Primo’s wife and Pasquale’s former girlfriend. But when Beatrice leaves her husband for her old love, Primo is devastated. He casts spells to spoil Pasquale’s creations and to win back Beatrice – but inadvertently conjures up an unexpected visitor.

Acclaim:

“A marvellous novel, written with style, gusto and immense charm. A delightfully dark and witty tale, peopled with lovers, Madonnas, angels, demons, epicureans and ladies of the night”

~ Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat

“A fruitcake of a novel: spicy, aromatic and rich”

~ Lily Prior, author of La Cucina

“Announces the arrival of an exciting new talent, a writer capable of handling magical realism without sacrificing believability”

~ Daily Mail

“A bewitching tale … nothing short of heavenly”

~ People Magazine (USA)

“An imaginative story, unusual, well written and marvellously evocative”

~ Choice (Book of the Month)

“A very pleasurable book – one that will make you smile”

~ Irish Examiner

“Dense with sensual imagery … A Time of Angels is sure to secure itself an international audience”

~ The Guardian (UK)

“A carefully crafted story”

~ The Cape Times

Extra Info:

Additional information

Weight	N/A
Dimensions	N/A
US Paperback	Pages: 240, Harper Perennial, ISBN: 13-978-0-06-056243-4
US Hardback	Pages: 223, William Morrow, ISBN: 0-06-056242-0
UK Hardback	Pages: 224, Bantam Press, ISBN: 593051769