In a tiny stained-glass shop hidden in the backstreets of Westminster lies the cracked, sparkling image of an angel.

The owners of Minster Glass have also been broken: Fran Morrison's mother died when she was a baby; a painful event never mentioned by her difficult, secretive father Edward. Fran left home to pursue a career in foreign cities, as a classical musician. But now Edward is dangerously ill and it's time to return.

Taking her father's place in the shop, she and his craftsman Zac accept a beguiling commission - to restore a shattered glass picture of an exquisite angel belonging to a local church. As they reassemble the dazzling shards of coloured glass, they uncover an extraordinary love story from the Victorian past, sparked by the window's creation. Slowly, Fran begins to see her own reflection in its themes of passion, tragedy and redemption.

Fran's journey will lead her on a search for the truth about her mother, through mysteries of past times and the anguish of unrequited love, to reconciliation and renewal.

I chose this book because I liked the "Memory Garden". I also started to read it because I just finished the "Drowning Tree" by Carol Goodman and there is a lot about stained glass and glass artists in there as well. And somehow this fascinates me.
I liked the story of the re-creation of the Angel. I liked Zac. I didn't like Ben at all.. too selfish and self-absorbed. And - being a musician myself - I found it hard to believe that she stopped playing tuba for so long. This might be a bit picky but it annoyed me. A brass player needs quite some muscles around the mouth and stopping for so long she has to start nearly from bottom again. (My father is a flutist and I know what I am talking about). I can relate to the choir work but I found this also too detailed.. someone with no interest will be bored.

I don't think this book which will stay in my mind for long....

On its way to France - part of a private bookbox :-)
Since this is a ray as well - it's yours to decide what happens next!

Enjoy!

I read another book by this author a while ago, it seems to me. This comes with a few other rays and RABCKs from a long time bookcrossing friend. Thanks so much for sending!

I wouldn‘t necessarily label this as a romance, although there is a bit of it, and despite some sadness there is also some happily ever after, but that doesn‘t quite feel like the prevailing theme.
It‘s strange the way one can amble from book to book, as I tend to do, and land on surprisingly similar tropes, wholly unintentionally. Here, for the second book in a row, and the third in recent weeks, I find the main character returning home or to the home of a relative to pick up the pieces after a death or after the person is incapacitated in some way. And the not very welcome rescue mission rescues the main character. There was an added twist in that two days before picking this up I left London where I had been staying for ten days - in the exact neighborhood featured in this book. Greencoat row, rather than Greycoat Square, but still....
Likewise, the day before I picked the book up, during tea with friends, they were describing their efforts to find a glassmaker to help with the next project the artist friend was planning - to replace a stained glass window in a nearby church...
As I was travelling, I selected the books I took with me mainly on the basis of weight and size, not content!
As for the story itself, It is yet another to and fro between time periods, made possible by the discovery of a diary... loads of parallels between the two stories set now and a century ago. Not that I mind this genre or trope - I quite like both, although so many in such quick succession can be a bit too much. The characters were well portrayed and I liked the glass settings, the choir stories (a stalwart choir participant for decades now...) and the angels. I loved all the little quotes at the start of each chapter.
An interesting read, if not my very favorite.

I’ve left this in Belgium (right near Waterloo), to be read by a friend.