Angels of Destruction

December 8, 2008
Tweaking some thematic elements of his previous novel, The Stolen Child
, Donohoe now tells the story of Norah, a nine-year-old who appears on the doorstep of Margaret Quinn, a widow living a solitary existence in a small Pennsylvania town in 1985. Margaret eagerly takes in Norah to make up for the loss of her own daughter, Erica, who disappeared 10 years earlier after running away to join the Angels of Destruction, a West Coast revolutionary group. Margaret passes off Norah as her granddaughter and enrolls her in school, where Norah becomes friendly with a boy who's been abandoned by his father. Complications ensue when Margaret's sister arrives and has to be convinced that Norah is Erica's daughter. Sandwiched between the story of Margaret and Norah's unusual relationship is the flashback narrative of teenage Erica's road adventures with her boyfriend on their way to join the Angels of Destruction. Norah's unexplained origins form the enigmatic core of this story, and though she comes across as more of a novelistic conceit than a flesh and blood character, the novel movingly illustrates the quest for connection hardwired into every human heart.

January 1, 2009
Donohue 's second novel (The Stolen Child, 2006) concerns a mysterious child who attempts to repair a broken family.

When a runaway child calling herself Norah Quinn shows up on the elderly Margaret 's front steps on a cold winter night, Margaret instinctually takes her in with hardly any questions asked. It is 1985, though Margaret 's formal speech sounds practically archaic, and Norah 's alternating precocious and childlike mannerisms are unnatural. Norah claims to be the daughter of Margaret 's daughter, Erica, who ran away from home as a teenager in the '60s to join a cult revolutionary group, the Angels of Destruction. Norah quickly makes an indelible impression on Margaret, as well as a fellow third-grader, Sean. Norah and Sean get into scrapes suitable to their age, but their dialogue, internal thoughts and certain actions are entirely inappropriate for nine-year-olds. Despite the bizarre circumstances, Norah quickly feels at home and the reclusive widow Margaret feels a void has been filled. But soon, Norah seems to be at the center of supernatural occurrences. She develops a tribe of followers, the religious connotations of which are uncomfortable at best, and makes enemies among the town parents while simultaneously orchestrating the search for Erica and holding steadfastly to her beliefs, never probed but left at the hackneyed "you need not see to believe. " Her mechanical displays of emotion are downright creepy, and many of her "grand plans " aren 't grand at all. The premise that Norah will rebuild the Quinn family is not supported by the plot; other characters prove to be bigger players in that mission. It is the unseen catalyst for all of these events, Erica, whose story proves the most fascinating.

With ghostly visions and otherworldly experiences throughout, the story occupies both real and imagined worlds, but it fails to do so in a captivating or credulous way, and the entire narrative feels shrouded in clouds from beginning to end.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2009
After his best-selling debut, "The Stolen Child", Donohue has written a second novel about an uncanny child. This time, a mysterious girl named Norah shows up at a doorstep of a lonely old woman in the middle of winter. She takes the girl in, telling the neighborhood that Norah is her granddaughter, the child of the daughter who went missing ten years before. Norah brings happiness to many of the people she meets but disturbs others with her assertion that she is an angel sent to bring a message of destruction. What happened to the missing daughter becomes clear eventually, but other mysteries remain unsolved in this strange and finely written novel. Donohue has a talent for using small details to draw his characters, and the result is a dark and unsettling story that takes hold of the reader. Recommended for libraries with collections of literary and fantastical fiction. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/15/08.]Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego Cty. Lib.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2009
The unfortunate disappearance of one girl and the unexplainable arrival of another are not viewed as coincidences by those who believe in angels in Donohues eerie follow-up to his acclaimed debut novel, The Stolen Child (2006). Its been 10 years since Margaret Quinns teenage daughter Erica ran off with her boyfriend, Wileytwo dewy-eyed, postVietnam War rebels bound for California to join the Angels of Destruction counterrevolutionary cult. Recently widowed, Margaret feels an abject loneliness for her lost family that makes her preternaturally disposed to take in the waif who suddenly appears on her doorstep one frigid night. Posing as Margarets long-lost grandchild, nine-year-old Norah quickly enraptures her classmates with her otherworldly demeanor, and so solidly insinuates herself into Margarets routine that the old woman shudders to think she may lose this child, too. Fused with spectral imagery and magnetic characters, Donohues ethereal foray into the unexpected consequences of love, impenetrable depths of loss, and infinite possibilities of faith is a chilling yet affirmative experience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)