Angel Song

Women of Faith speaker Walsh (Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God) and novelist Cushman (Leaving Yesterday) have co-authored a yarn about a young woman's unawareness of angels surrounding her every move. Annie Fletcher has returned home to Charleston, S.C., from her busy life as a New York designer to celebrate her younger sister Sarah's graduation when Sarah dies in an auto accident. Distraught and feeling more alone than ever, Annie begins to have dreams and hear music—angelic music—and does her level best to escape it. When her deceased sister's neighbors come calling, Annie gets even more uneasy as 12-year-old Keith, who has Down syndrome, starts talking about seeing angels all around. Troubled and scared, Annie fights memories of a painful childhood even as she battles present-day business adversaries and internally rebels against evidence in her life of invisible angelic protectors. Walsh is known for communicating with real depth in her nonfiction titles; sadly, this fictional offering isn't as riveting. Many of the story's angelic occurrences are more contrived than divine. (Aug.)