The Gate of Angels

More like 3.5*Fred Fairly is twenty-five years old, a Junior Fellow lecturing in physics at Saint Angelicus, the only Cambridge college where the statutes enforce life-long celibacy. When Fred meets a dashing aspiring nurse, he considers leaving what he has worked so hard for behind, but fate may have other plans.By turns endearing (Fred’s awkward love phase) and at other times absorbing (the discussions related to particle physics and the personalities in that field, such as J.J. Thompson and Ernest Rutherford), The Gate of Angels is a historical novel in four parts, that is quirky, original, and compellingly readable.I found quite interesting that in 1912 (the year the novel takes place), the field of physics was in a state of transformation as the concept of subatomic particles and the principle of mass conservation were emerging. The old guard (some of Fred’s older colleagues, such as his mentor, Professor Flowerdew) wasn’t onboard with those changes, while the more forward-thinking scientists took a wait-and-see approach. I found curious that this novel describes a climate of unrest, both in society at large, and in science in particular— in the quest for understanding and explaining the laws of nature—, just two years before the start of World War I, in which science found practical applications in warfare. It struck me that we are living through a revolution in particle physics not unlike the one the book chronicles, so I liked the parallels and found my reading of this novel, at this point in time, serendipitous.Overall, The Gate of Angels is a quirky romance with a healthy balance of science and endearing characters. It doesn’t have the enduring charm of The Beginning of Spring, but I liked it well enough.

Though little more than a fable, this charming novel explores serious questions of faith and reason. By attempting to balance qualities that are essentially irreconcilable, Penelope Fitzgerald brings off an entertaining juggling act, even though the various parts do not completely hang together.Fred Fairly, a junior fellow at a fictional Cambridge college, works at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1912, at the dawn of the new science of nuclear physics. The son of an Anglican rector, he has abandoned Christianity in favor of rationalism -- yet he finds himself profoundly affected by a highly irrational occurrence. Following a cycling accident on a country road, he wakes up in bed with a beautiful stranger, and immediately falls in love with her. He cannot explain such love, and Fitzgerald deliberately makes it impossible for him to rationalize the attraction in social terms. For Daisy Saunders, the young woman in question, is a nurse's aide from a poor district of London; there is no way she would be considered a suitable marriage partner for a Cambridge don. But in many ways she is more fully realized than Fred himself is; she certainly has a head on her shoulders and her feet on the ground.In 1990, when this book was published, Penelope Fitzgerald was in her seventies and had been writing for only fifteen years. Her novels tend to reflect the aesthetic of an earlier era, notably in a balanced prose style one might expect of Virginia Woolf or Elizabeth Bowen, coupled with an almost naive view of romantic love. These qualities will come into their own in her final masterpiece  THE BLUE FLOWER , in which exquisite style and an idealized romanticism precisely capture the spirit of the German poet Novalis. Here, though, the two are deliberately at odds. Fairly inhabits an ivory palace whose academic courtiers delight in debates that may bear little relationship to their actual feelings. With the pragmatism of poverty, Daisy says what she means and does what she must; Fitzgerald's description of her background might have come from Somerset Maugham's  OF HUMAN BONDAGE . The author goes further by erecting an even more ethereal Cambridge within the real one; Fairly's college, St. Angelicus, is imagined as a monastic enclave to which no women are admitted, and he belongs to a contrarian debating society whose members are all required to argue against their firmly-held points of view.Unfortunately, little is made of Fairly's discipline as a nuclear physicist. Early in the novel, his mentor, a physicist of the old school, predicts the development of quantum mechanics, portraying it as the abandonment of physical rationalism in favor of a vague mathematical faith. It is a brilliantly lucid passage that perfectly captures the theme of the book; I wish that more of it had been on this level. I also wish that the very likeable characters might have interacted on more solid ground -- though if all the ground had been as solid as Daisy's there would be no debate. So this turns out to be more a jeu d'esprit than a novel; but there is an abundance of spirit here, and so much fun.

For pure reading pleasure, Penelope Fitzgerald is for me a sure bet, and this novel lives up to her usual standards. The writing is lovely, the humor is subtle but very much there, and the plot keeps the pages turning. The characters are interesting and in some cases very sympathetic -- one gets attached to them -- and the sense of place as so often in her books is powerful. Why not five stars, then? I found the book a bit talkier than "The Beginning of Spring", or "The Blue Flower", with extended asides on the theory of physics in the early 20th century. Still, a lovely read.

It is perhaps not desirable to review on Amazon one novel by an author in relation to others she has written, as many readers here will be looking to try a writer for the first time. However…in this case…at least I wish to say that Gate of Angels is very similar to The Beginning of Spring in all the good ways. And also a joy.The setting is Cambridge University in 1912. The world of physics is in turmoil, recent discoveries upending values and understanding. This is only part of the plot, however, you won’t need a science degree to follow. There are rather more touches of the ghostly and the mysterious. The shadow of the coming War falls on the reader but not the characters, unaware that any happiness will be brief and prospects short-term. It lends a bitter sweetness to the story. Just as with Beginning of Spring.The novel begins with a bicycle accident. This encounter of hero and heroine sets the novel on its way. Penelope Fitzgerald's characters are active agents in their destiny, or try to be – fate and chance play a hand, too. Or perhaps it is just the random collision of particles. A very neat touch combines all of these elements.Fred and Daisy are delightful. The author references with accuracy the suffragettes, Edwardian health care, the new department stores, love, sex and atomic physics. This edition has an informative introduction by Philip Hensher.

This short novel has many of Fitzgerald’s trademarks, above all sharp intelligence and a dry but sprightly sense of humour. It bristles with ideas and communicates a thoroughly convincing feel for its two settings, Cambridge and London in 1912. But it lacks the cohesion of her best work, perhaps because she takes on too much. Readers who are fond of M.R. James and E.M. Forster will find it particularly engaging.

This a charming story of love at first sight, set in Cambridge in 1912. Fred and Daisy meet as the result of a bicycling accident. It happens on the outskirts of town when a horse and cart suddenly career out of a farm entrance and scatter three cyclists: Fred, Daisy (who had never met before) and a third party (known to Daisy)who was uninjured. Fred and Daisy are taken by the farmer's son to a nearby house where they are put to bed, more or less unconscious, by the kindly owners. When they wake up Fred at once decides that Daisy is the girl for him.Fred is a physicist and Fellow of a College, St Angelicus, a strictly male establishment (like the Monastery at Mount Athos in Greece). Daisy comes from a poor background, a trainee nurse from Blackfriars Hospital in London, from which she has recently been unfairly dismissed, and has come to Cambridge looking for work in a local Hospital.The story revolves around this mundane and somewhat mysterious event. Fred, who has come off worst is taken to a cottage hospital. Unfortunately Daisy has disappeared by the time he is up and about.However there is much, much more to the story. It deals with the inevitable conflict between science and religious faith, democracy and universal suffrage and women's rights; and not least the absurd restrictions of life without women in St. Angelicus. (Nowhere however is there any hint of the impending European catastrophe 1914-18.)In the end however Fred does catch up with Daisy, but only by chance! A truly 5* read.

Fred Fairly, a junior fellow at St Angelicus college, and Daisy Saunders, a trainee nurse, are casualties of a cycling accident. Fred is smitten; Daisy is a mystery. This is the second Penelope Fitzgerald I’ve tried, and I’m afraid it will be the last. In particular scenes, with particular characters, she raises a smile with her wit, and I’m willing to be wooed, but (as with The Beginning of Spring) the narrative failed to cohere, didn’t involve me and, as it went by, was almost immediately forgettable. This was shortlisted for the Booker, and Fitzgerald has enthusiastic fans, but she isn’t for me.

Penelope Fitzgerald is one of my favourite writers - acute, unexpected, subtle, vivid, funny... she has everything - and she reached her peak in these late novels, I think. The Gate of Angels and The Beginning of Spring are the best, in my view. I have yet to read the Blue Flower... I've been keeping as a treat as I don't want to run out of her novels too quickly.