Phillips, Arthur, ANGELICA, Random (384 pp.) $24.95 Apr. 10, 2007, ISBN: 1-4000-6251-9
A
symphony of psychological complexity and misdirection in four increasingly
tricky movements displays the varied wares of the gifted Phillips (The
Egyptologist, 2004, etc.). In a brooding family drama set in
turn-of-the-century London (presumably the turn from the 19th to the 20th),
former shopgirl Constance Barton begins to withdraw from her husband, Joseph
(a medical researcher who had formerly served with the British Army), and
into protective intimacy with their bewitching four-year-old daughter
Angelica, whose birth had been preceded by several miscarriages. Fearful of
enduring another failed pregnancy, Constance forsakes her husband’s bed,
pleading that the sensitive Angelica needs her constantly. And, appalled by
evidence of the “cruelty” of Joseph’s researches (i.e., mutilation and
vivisection of animals), repelled by his evident masculine needs, Constance
persuades herself that she sees proof of both malign ghostly presences
invading their home and the more-than-fatherly interest shown toward
Angelica by Joseph (born Bartone, hence of hot-blooded ancestry). Is
Constance mad, or does she alone sense the presence of unspeakable evil?
Phillips juggles possibilities almost as adroitly as did Henry James in this
novel’s likely inspiration, The Turn of the Screw—and he ups the ante in
successive narratives focused on the duplicitous spiritualist (“Anne
Montague”) engaged by Constance, who quickly falls under this formidable
older woman’s not-entirely-professional influence; “Joseph Barton” himself,
who gradually emerges as rather less a villain than an ingenuous victim; and
finally “Angelica,” years after the novel’s major events, when she has
learned—but still does not fully understand—the personal histories that set
her formerly loving parents at incompatible odds. Afurther mystery is found
in the identity of the narrator, neatly revealed late in the story (though
less of a surprise than Phillips perhaps intends). Elegant writing abounds,
as do probing characterizations and flashes of wit (the two nicely conjoined
in the figure of self-important, gourmandizing consulting psychologist
Doctor Miles). An impressive step forward for the versatile Phillips, who
continues to engage, surprise and entertain. (Agent: Marly Rusoff/Marly
Rusoff & Associates)