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Title: It Abides
Review: I finished The Gate of Angels more than two weeks ago and still think about it every day. Perhaps it was simply that the finale to Lost's generally disappointing fifth season coincided with my reading of Gate, but the two feel like cross-media cousins. There is the struggle between two characters, one of faith and one of science, and the occasional glimmer of each into the other's world. There is a landscape of ghosts and strange histories. And there is the open-ended last scene, in Lost's case to lead you into next season, in Gate's case (with me at least) to lead you into the future the book leaves unresolved.In the short space of 167 pages, Penelope Lively recreates 1912 as if she lived it, develops characters that breathe -- and not just the couple whose bicycles and lives collide --, and weaves a mystery that is both specific and universal. She's a great writer and this is a fine, rightly praised novel.
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