PROCESSING REQUEST...
BIBZ
 
Login
  Forgot Password?
Register Today Not registered yet?
  1 CLEANER OF CHARTRES: A NOVEL
Author: Vickers, Salley
 
Click for Large Image
Class: Fiction
Age: Adult
Language: English
LC: PR6072
ISBN-13: 9780670785674
LCCN: 2013001564
Imprint: Viking
Pub Date: 06/27/2013
Availability: Out of Print Confirmed
List: $26.95
  Hardcover
Physical Description: 296 pages ; 22 cm H 8.55", W 5.8", D 1.1", 0.9 lbs.
LC Series:
Brodart Sources: Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Bibliographies:
Awards:
Starred Reviews:
TIPS Subjects: Psychological Fiction
BISAC Subjects: FICTION / Romance / Contemporary
FICTION / Literary
FICTION / Women
LC Subjects: Cathédrale de Chartres, Fiction
Cathédrale de Chartres, Fiction
Cleaning personnel, Fiction
Homeless persons, Fiction
Mistaken identity, Fiction
Mystery fiction
Single women, Fiction
SEARS Subjects: Chartres Cathedral, Fiction
Cleaning, Employees, Fiction
Homeless persons, Fiction
Identity (Psychology), Fiction
Mystery fiction
Single women, Fiction
Reading Programs:
 
Annotations
Publisher Annotations | 02/28/2013
When an accidental encounter dredges up a series of tragic incidents from Agnes' youth, the nasty meddling of town gossips threatens to upend the woman's simple, peaceful life. Her story reveals a terrible loss, a case of mistaken identity, and a cruel and violent act that haunts her past. Agns wrestles with her own sense of guilt and enduring heartbreak while the citizens piece together the truth about her life.
Journal Reviews
Booklist | 06/01/2013
Agnes Morel is an enigma. Discovered sleeping on the porch of Chartres cathedral, she has become a fixture there, cleaning the cathedral and tending to the aging priests for the last 20 years. Taking odd jobs about the small town, she has made herself indispensable: organizing Professor Jones' chaotic papers; posing for Robert Clement, who dreams of painting the perfect Madonna; helping Philippe Nevers care for his abused nephew. But it is her mysterious past that causes the bitter town gossip to begin to suspect and then accuse her of things she did not do. The unwanted scrutiny brings back memories of her past, a past she came to Chartres to escape. Through the viewpoints of the various characters and in flashbacks to her troubled past, the reader learns of Agnes' depth and strength and the feelings that she so easily arouses in others. With a deft hand, Vickers shows us the layers of human need--to be loved, accepted, and believed--and wraps it in a structure as intricate as the cathedral itself. Dickie, Elizabeth. 300p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013.
Kirkus Reviews | 06/01/2013
Enigmatic Agnes Morel provokes intense responses in the people around her, but is she an innocent, a savant or a violent criminal? A foundling whose own illegitimate baby was removed from her at birth, Agnes is a character hung about with sadness, mystery and suppressed emotion. In British novelist Vickers' (Dancing Backwards, 2010, etc.) accomplished moral fable set in the French cathedral city of Chartres, Agnes is a blank canvas on whom others inscribe their own kind or less generous behavior. Abbe Paul treats her with concerned warmth; Professor Jones detects her illiteracy and teaches her to read; but malicious widow Madame Beck works busily to vilify her reputation. Twenty years earlier, before arriving penniless in Chartres, Agnes had spent time in a secure psychiatric hospital, suspected of attacking the nanny of an adopted baby which Agnes perhaps thought was her own lost child. Now, with her striking looks, quiet demeanor and high reputation as a reliable worker, Agnes has friends and a home. But the unanswered questions about her past and her silence are about to resurface unpleasantly. Sometimes whimsical, other times dryly witty, Vickers' story features simple characters and an uncomplicated, even predictable storyline while exploring deeper themes of parenting, sin and guilt before reaching a sweet, neat conclusion. A skillful miniature psychodrama delivered with humor and knowing restraint. 304pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2013.
Library Journal | 06/01/2013
Abandoned as an infant and raised in a convent, Agnes Morel quietly and efficiently goes about her various jobs in the small town of Chartres, including cleaning the magnificent cathedral that towers over its surroundings. But despite Agnes's efforts to remain unnoticed, one employer's malicious meddling reveals secrets long hidden, and Agnes's troubled past must be confronted. The evocative setting adds a timeless quality to this narrative, and Vickers reminds us that the past cannot remain entirely in the past. VERDICT Since her debut novel, Miss Garnet's Angel in 2000, English author and Royal Literary Fund Fellow Vickers has captivated readers with the psychological depth of her characters. This novel is no exception. She does an exemplary job of exploring themes of loss and healing while ending the novel on a hopeful note. Readers who enjoy Elizabeth Berg or Anita Brookner will find Vickers's perceptive prose to be right up their alley. Fans of well-crafted, psychological fiction will relish how the layers of consciousness of these complex characters are revealed chapter by chapter. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/13.]. Gwen Vredevood, Marymount Univ. Libs., Marshall, VA. 304p. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013.
Library Journal Prepub Alert | 01/28/2013
Found sleeping on the north porch of famed Chartres Cathedral by Abbe Paul, Agnes Morel has since spent 20 years in the town, cleaning the cathedral and doing odd jobs for townsfolk. But even as she draws the attention of a free-spirited young restorer, Agnes has a tragic past that's about to emerge, thanks to an accidental meeting and insistent town gossip. Vickers, who had an international hit with Miss Garnet's Angel, writes with a sense of hopeful healing; with a reading group guide. 304p. LJ Prepub Alert Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013.
Publishers Weekly | 04/22/2013
Drawn by its famous labyrinth, Agnes Morel has made a life in Chartres cleaning for the cathedral; its dean, Abbe Paul; and a variety of townspeople, who are connected by gossip, much of it circulated by the malicious Madame Beck. Vickers tells Agnes's story in chapters that alternate between her current life and her earlier travails: raised by nuns after having been abandoned, she gets pregnant under mysterious circumstances, is forced to give up the baby, then has a breakdown. As in her bestselling Miss Garnet's Angel, Vickers leavens her realism with a subtle fairytale quality and a version of Christianity in which doctrine is less important than kindness or its absence, and in which the Devil exists, "but only in people's minds. That is his power." Things seem dark when Agnes's past collides with her present, but actually her luck may be changing. She learns to read, meets a sexy restorer, and, while ministering in simple but meaningful ways to some of her fellow townspeople, winds her way back to the center of her difficult life and out the other side. Though the darks and lights could be more nuanced, and the author's hand could be lighter, Vickers uses the Chartres Cathedral to ground a charming if not entirely surprising story. Agent: Jonny Geller, Curtis, Brown (U.K.). (July). 298p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2013.
9780670785674,dl.it[0].title