The City of Falling Angels — a wonderfully intriguing title for a wonderfully intriguing book.
Whether you’ve been to Venice, Italy, or only dreamed of going there, The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (who also authored Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), will make you even more interested in this unique city. I had the good fortune to visit Venice in 2005 and only wish that I had read this portrait of the city beforehand.
The focal point of the book is a fire that destroyed the historic Fenice Opera House in 1996. In the telling of that story, the author takes us to places in Venice that are not on the usual tourist’s itinerary and introduces us to many of the people (characters, really) who live there — their nature, their history, and their quirks.
And what of that fascinating title? Its genesis was from a sign posted outside the Santa Maria della Salute Church in Venice in the early 1970s, before restoration of its crumbling marble ornaments — “Beware of Falling Angels.”
The City of Falling Angels is available at the BSC Library. Check it out!
Marlene Anderson, Director of Library Services
Read it! Read it! 