The Crooked Angel

A little angel is unhappy because of his crooked wings, mouth, nose, and halo until he finds a friend with a similar problem.

Crooked Angels traces how memories of terror and neglect from childhood became stored in a woman's muscles. A fit, healthy and successful journalist wakes one summer's morning to discover something is terribly wrong, unable to move she is seized by excruciating paralysis. In a personal account of the link between past and present, body and mind, the author gradually discovers the root of the mystery illness that has held her trapped in a cage of pain. With almost forensic skill, Carol Lee follows a trail that starts from the still, confinement of her armchair leading her back to a childhood of Tanzanian landscapes, patriarchal oppression and an all-seeing, unforgiving God. Then on to a hectic life as a newspaper journalist, perpetually on the run from the demons that haunt her. It is only when she suffers this physical break down and with the help of a wise osteopath that she can begin to uncover the history that her body has stored and remembered for her; 'the story of your life, your history is written in your body.' As forgotten memories and old injuries are slowly unlocked so too does the body begin to recover.

Stolen bodies from a local funeral home, a missing friend of a local hood, and threatening letters are the investigations keeping Howie, Mick and Adam busy. But things get really disturbing when it seems that the detectives have become the target of a serious psycho.

It was the fox's fault. If it hadn't darted out from the verge into the path of the van, Sean wouldn't have swerved into the ditch and no one would have died. As it was, Sean and Nole find themselves on the side of the lane chatting with Azrael, the Angel of Death, and setting off along the crooked road to heaven. There, in the Serene Palace of Heavenly Justice, St Peter is waiting to tell them their fate, but in the meantime there is much to learn about the nature of death and a good deal of repenting to be done.

Shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2013 ________________________ 'Vyleta writes with the sharp, brutal clarity of cinematic freeze frames ... Noir meets Gothic – a thrilling tale of war crimes, family secrets, murder and blackmail' Independent 'The atmosphere of postwar Europe, still seething with animosity, is wonderfully evoked and the tangled plot is thrilling' The Times ________________________ The Second World War is over – and yet it lives on. As the initial phase of denazification draws to a close, people across Vienna begin to rebuild their lives amidst the rubble. Anna Beer returns to the city she fled years earlier upon discovering her husband's infidelity. She has come back to find him and, perhaps, to forgive him. Travelling on the same train is eighteen-year-old Robert Seidel, a schoolboy summoned home to his stepfather's sickbed and the secrets of his family's past. As Anna and Robert navigate an unrecognizable city, beneath the bombed-out ruins a ghost of a man, wrapped in a red scarf, battles demons from his past and hides from a future that is deeply uncertain for all.

In this stunning follow-up to his epic fantasy debut, Alan Campbell propels readers into a captivating city battling for its own survival—and that of humankind—in a world of deities and demons, fallen angels and killers. After a destructive battle, the ancient swaying city of Deepgate has been overtaken. Most of the chains that suspend it have given way, toxic fumes are emanating from blazing structures, and the temple once inhabited by the ruling Presbyter now dangles upside down above the once-uncharted abyss. The victorious Spine have initiated martial law and are ruthlessly pursuing all who attempt to leave. Amid the turmoil, two captives are returned. Arriving by ship are the young angel Dill, now toughened by war, and traitor assassin Rachel Hael. Incarcerated in the slowly crumbling temple, the two await their fate, while from the abyss beneath them ghosts rise—for the death of the god Ulcis has left open the gates to Hell. But on orders from his divine brethren, Cospinol, the god of brine and fog, is traveling the world to Deepgate to seal this breach. His great skyship is being dragged through the air by the giant John Anchor, a monster of a man enslaved to pull the god’s vessel, moving slowly, inevitably, toward the city. As the city waits, teetering on the brink, myriad plans for vengeance are set in motion, from the continent of Pandemeria to Heaven itself. Among them is a ghostly archon sent to deliver a message to the gods on earth—using Dill as his vessel. Thrust from his body, Dill’s own soul returns to Hell. When Dill and Rachel are attacked by Spine assassins, Rachel has no choice but to try to escape with the creature that calls itself Dill…and to somehow find a way to restore her friend’s soul before it’s too late. For powerful forces are stirring, and in the coming battle between gods, it is the world of men that is at stake.