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beckca03's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good story. I love historical fiction and this one was really interesting.
utahmomreads's review against another edition
4.0
Review originally posted on my blog : http://utahmomslife.blogspot.com/2011/12/angel-makers-book-review.html
Sari is a young apprentice to the local midwife in an isolated Hungarian village when the men, including her fiance, are called away to fight in World War I. For most of the women, who have arranged marriages, having their husbands away is a relief. Before long many of the women, including Sari, begin relationships with the Italian prisoners that are kept at a nearby POW camp. But the war ends and the consequences must be faced. The Italian men leave and the village men return. However, the women are not ready to return to the repressed and abused lives they lived before the war.
Desperate to escape her cruel fiance, Sari uses poison to slowly end his life. An abused friend and then another ask Sari for help and soon the village and Sari are engulfed in a macabre conspiracy of murder.
The Angel Makers by Jessica Gregson is a novel based on a true story. During the years following World War I as many as 300 people were murdered in the village before investigators from outside finally figured out what was really happening. In her novel, Gregson, elaborating on the known facts, shows a decidedly human view of the story--at once sympathetic and outrageous.
As much an ethical discussion on the value of life and of personal choice, The Angel Makers is a mesmerizing and horrifying novel. Like many who met her, I found myself entranced by the character of Sari and I appreciated the descriptions of the village and the life.
My only complaint with the novel was the excessive use of foul language.
Sari is a young apprentice to the local midwife in an isolated Hungarian village when the men, including her fiance, are called away to fight in World War I. For most of the women, who have arranged marriages, having their husbands away is a relief. Before long many of the women, including Sari, begin relationships with the Italian prisoners that are kept at a nearby POW camp. But the war ends and the consequences must be faced. The Italian men leave and the village men return. However, the women are not ready to return to the repressed and abused lives they lived before the war.
Desperate to escape her cruel fiance, Sari uses poison to slowly end his life. An abused friend and then another ask Sari for help and soon the village and Sari are engulfed in a macabre conspiracy of murder.
The Angel Makers by Jessica Gregson is a novel based on a true story. During the years following World War I as many as 300 people were murdered in the village before investigators from outside finally figured out what was really happening. In her novel, Gregson, elaborating on the known facts, shows a decidedly human view of the story--at once sympathetic and outrageous.
As much an ethical discussion on the value of life and of personal choice, The Angel Makers is a mesmerizing and horrifying novel. Like many who met her, I found myself entranced by the character of Sari and I appreciated the descriptions of the village and the life.
My only complaint with the novel was the excessive use of foul language.
debandleo's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this book was good overall, but the last 100 pages or so were the best part. I wish the rest of the book could have been as exciting as the end. But I did like it; it was a great concept - so I would definitely recommend it.
mkean's review against another edition
4.0
Very good! A simple, gripping story that kept me reading. Sari was a good female protagonist, a perfect example of a cunning, intelligent woman whose decisions were all hers and no one else's. I'm glad it wasn't marketed as a romance, because I never would have read it, and the romance wasn't the focus of it. It was more than that.
brown_hare's review against another edition
4.0
Would love to know what the true story was and how close this is to truth. Totally could happen in a small town!
charlotte_owl's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book! It was my first read of 2019, and I think it started my reading year off right. I think this book shows the idiom "the path to hell is paved with good intentions" very well. As you know, as it is said in the summary, this novel is based off a true story where women in a small Hungarian village realize, after the men return from WW1, that they were better off without the men, and therefore killed them. However, this novel isn't a violent novel, it isn't a thriller, or a horror novel. It is focused on real people, and how events can caused unimaginable things to happen. The character development is wonderful, the pacing is fantastic, and at the end you don't know what to feel. Overall, a wonderful read! I would recommend.
jillyfay's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit slow, but well plotted and interesting. It was an interesting story and perspective.
riverdogbookco's review
4.0
Both shocking and encouraging of sympathy, The Angel Makers is a haunting novel that will slyly seduce you.
Taking place in an isolated village in Hungary, the story revolves around Sari Arany, first as a young girl, then as a woman, and her place in village life. Her father is the village medicine man and seer; her only friend is the feared village midwife and herbal woman. Before her father dies, he arranges (with her permission) for Sari's engagement to Ferenc, the son of the wealthiest family in the village. It is a surprise to most, for because her mother died soon after her birth, Sari is thought to be unlucky and treated with scorn and suspicion by the villagers. It doesn't help that Sari is peculiar - beautiful, piercing eyes, more learned than most women, and surprisingly forthright with her speech and actions. Despite this, it is seen to be a good match, and when her father dies sooner than expected, Ferenc assumes they will marry immediately instead of waiting for Sari's 18th birthday. Yet Sari stands firm, and instead chooses to live with Judith, the herbal woman, to learn about being a midwife prior to marriage.
But soon the war comes to Hungary, and the men must go off to fight. Suddenly, the women of the village find themselves living in a strange new world where they don't worry about when food is on the table, where they have time to make new friends, where they begin to feel more free in thought and action - no longer worried about a harsh rebuke from a husband or father. When a POW camp sets up nearby, they also feel free enough to get jobs (and lovers) at the camp. Sari slowly becomes more accepted in the village, making a few particular friends, learning more about herbal medicine and midwifery, occasionally receiving letters from Ferenc about his dreams of home.
Then the war ends. The village men begin to return. The POWs leave. And the women are no longer so free as they once were. Sari's friend, Anna, again begins to creep around the village trying to hide the fresh bruises that are a marker of her husband's homecoming. But change did happen in the women. And they are not as willing to lie down and take the men's actions and decisions as they once were. It is at this point that they begin to rely on Sari and Judith's herbal knowledge for getting rid of those pesky problems - the men who maybe should not have returned home from the war.
The best part? This is based on a true story. As the author writes, "The novel details a peculiar kind of madness that gripped the women in a small, isolated village over a period of around ten years, and writing the novel was my attempt to try and understand what circumstances might have brought it about, as well as what may have been going on in the heads of the women in question." This is a fascinating look at how far some women will go to assert their freedom.
Taking place in an isolated village in Hungary, the story revolves around Sari Arany, first as a young girl, then as a woman, and her place in village life. Her father is the village medicine man and seer; her only friend is the feared village midwife and herbal woman. Before her father dies, he arranges (with her permission) for Sari's engagement to Ferenc, the son of the wealthiest family in the village. It is a surprise to most, for because her mother died soon after her birth, Sari is thought to be unlucky and treated with scorn and suspicion by the villagers. It doesn't help that Sari is peculiar - beautiful, piercing eyes, more learned than most women, and surprisingly forthright with her speech and actions. Despite this, it is seen to be a good match, and when her father dies sooner than expected, Ferenc assumes they will marry immediately instead of waiting for Sari's 18th birthday. Yet Sari stands firm, and instead chooses to live with Judith, the herbal woman, to learn about being a midwife prior to marriage.
But soon the war comes to Hungary, and the men must go off to fight. Suddenly, the women of the village find themselves living in a strange new world where they don't worry about when food is on the table, where they have time to make new friends, where they begin to feel more free in thought and action - no longer worried about a harsh rebuke from a husband or father. When a POW camp sets up nearby, they also feel free enough to get jobs (and lovers) at the camp. Sari slowly becomes more accepted in the village, making a few particular friends, learning more about herbal medicine and midwifery, occasionally receiving letters from Ferenc about his dreams of home.
Then the war ends. The village men begin to return. The POWs leave. And the women are no longer so free as they once were. Sari's friend, Anna, again begins to creep around the village trying to hide the fresh bruises that are a marker of her husband's homecoming. But change did happen in the women. And they are not as willing to lie down and take the men's actions and decisions as they once were. It is at this point that they begin to rely on Sari and Judith's herbal knowledge for getting rid of those pesky problems - the men who maybe should not have returned home from the war.
The best part? This is based on a true story. As the author writes, "The novel details a peculiar kind of madness that gripped the women in a small, isolated village over a period of around ten years, and writing the novel was my attempt to try and understand what circumstances might have brought it about, as well as what may have been going on in the heads of the women in question." This is a fascinating look at how far some women will go to assert their freedom.
plumeriade's review against another edition
5.0
THIS WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOSH. I may add more when I'm not at work and can actually page through all I marked in it, but top things I loved:
the writing style, which was straightforward but had lovely turns of phrases, like "suddenly, the earth coughs and all the yellowed leaves fall off the trees to lie on the ground like shells."
SARI!! who at first I thought was your typical "I'm so unusual because I like to read" protagonist, but she's not at all; she is well-read but that's not all there is to her, she's not always self-aware (the beginning of her relationship with Marco, and then with Ferenc), she is willful but can be tender, and she can also be spiteful (Orsolya!). It was heart-breakingly real to watch her be so certain that she would not put up with Ferenc treating her badly, and then when it came down to it, she could not escape immediately like she was so certain she'd be able to do. (and Anna, oh Anna, who knows.)
and then!! oh, I loved how Bela was absolutely sure that she couldn't have helped the women in the village because she's so smart, she's above that, those silly bonds of womanhood -- and then he's CRUSHED when he finds out how wrong he was.
it was wonderful.
the writing style, which was straightforward but had lovely turns of phrases, like "suddenly, the earth coughs and all the yellowed leaves fall off the trees to lie on the ground like shells."
SARI!! who at first I thought was your typical "I'm so unusual because I like to read" protagonist, but she's not at all; she is well-read but that's not all there is to her, she's not always self-aware (the beginning of her relationship with Marco, and then with Ferenc), she is willful but can be tender, and she can also be spiteful (Orsolya!). It was heart-breakingly real to watch her be so certain that she would not put up with Ferenc treating her badly, and then when it came down to it, she could not escape immediately like she was so certain she'd be able to do. (and Anna, oh Anna, who knows.)
and then!! oh, I loved how Bela was absolutely sure that she couldn't have helped the women in the village because she's so smart, she's above that, those silly bonds of womanhood -- and then he's CRUSHED when he finds out how wrong he was.
it was wonderful.
kea9f's review against another edition
4.0
The murderesses thing was much less creepy in the book than the description makes it sound. It was actually a really interesting story and I can definitely believe it's true.