Critical Praise
"While Deborah Noyes's research has imbued this story of a very contemporary-seeming young woman with the speech and the experiences of another era, Pearl resonates with feelings not bound by time or place."
——Magill Book Reviews
"...Written as Deborah Noyes envisions Nathaniel Hawthorne writing it, this small saga reads larger than its 304 pages. While a dark tale, sad and poignant, it is a tale of ultimate enlightenment."
——bookreporter.com
"With quietly savage prose, Deborah Noyes takes Pearl to adulthood, marriage, motherhood. We experience her life in America and England, the blossoming of love, and the heartbreak borne of passion and loss. Readers smell the sea, the bite of chill air, and live the very heartbeats of each character. This book is a literary classic and highly recommended."
——Midwest Book Review
"Deborah Noyes has given us a wonderful gift with Angel and Apostle... enjoyed every page of this debut novel. The ending surprised me, but that's the beauty of good storytelling. Ms. Noyes captures the heart of the time period, and I think Mr. Hawthorne would have liked this story, too."
——Susan Zabolotny, Historical Novels Review
"[A] worthy successor to Hawthorne's classic, breathing life and sympathy into an enigmatic child."
——Curled Up With a Good Book.com
"Noyes' lyrical debut tells the story of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and beyond from the vantage point of Pearl, Hester Prynne's wild, elfin child....Noyes does a remarkable job of capturing Puritan New England and the spirit and willfulness of Pearl, who is a compelling, sympathetic character in her own right."
——Booklist
"Echoes of Hawthorne abound in vivid scenes and authentic language in this masterfully re-imagined tale, not a retelling but an alternative telling that sweeps one along beyond the point Hawthorne chose to stop and embroiders new characters on the fabric of time. A captivating achievement that teases recollection and delights fancy."
——Susan Vreeland, Girl in Hyacinth Blue
"Noyes engages with atmospheric charms of time and place, and...delivers an ending revelation that would surprise Hawthorne himself."
——Publishers Weekly
"In language nearly as beautiful and powerful as Hawthorne's, Noyes tackles passion and Puritanism in a riveting historical tale with timeless overtones."
——Library Journal
"Angel and Apostle is an accomplished novel, stylistically sharp and metaphorically keen. Noyes commands a thorough knowledge of the 17th Century world of Hester and Pearl, both in New England and in England, where mother and daughter flee to escape the social wrath visited upon Hester.... Noyes chooses the language of the mid-17th Century, the same language used by Hawthorne, to craft her multifaceted tale. The verisimilitude of style and tone envelop the reader; Noyes has perfect pitch for the era and a keen sense of the charged atmosphere of isolation, dread and trenchant desire that surrounds both women.... [Noyes'] deft telling provides a thoroughly engaging story with an utterly stunning ending that affords the reader much to ponder."
——The Chicago Tribune
