On Angels' Wings: My flight from trauma to grace

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I won’t spoil anything, but my viewpoint on some “hot button” issues of the day were also forced to be re-examined. Set in northern Iraq, The Last of the Angels is a fresh reminder of how universal this concept is. I find the best books about angels are those where the angels fit in around stories of everyday life. Even in 1950s Iraq, filled with post-war hope where people are desperately grasping for any last refuges in their lives. Long-lost brothers returning from war or young children who talk with angels. Each element is encouraged by angels, with a satirical comedy attempting to cut through the grimness of their village. Fadhil al-Azzawi is a known poet and you gain that sense from his writing, however, if you are able to read the original Arabic version, please do.

I looked more closely at her. She was dressed in a long, pale garment. She had blond hair that reached her waist. Her large eyes were dark blue, like a summer-night’s sky. She didn’t seem as huge any longer, as I had first imagined. Or perhaps she had shrunk after our swift journey? She wasn’t transparent, but she gave an impression of lightness and litheness. I looked at my hands. They were still my hands, although softer and smoother. Look, she says, at the body language of those giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care: slumped shoulders, lowered gazes. She has learned to stand tall. “In my mid-50s, I began feeling a bit more confident in who I am and I thought ‘actually, shame doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to those animals’.”From a writing standpoint, it needed some editing. However, the rawness made it very powerful. So, I looked past that. Angels are universal. Almost every religion/faith/mythology has some form of ‘angel’: a heavenly being that watches over us, delivers messages of purpose, and is supposed to protect us from the inevitable stupidity we inflict upon ourselves. When it comes to our reading material, there are endless requests for books about angels: angels of faith; angels of forbidden love; the battle of good and evil; guardian angels; fallen angels. And don’t even get me started about the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who.

The thing is, if you do a general Google search on books about angels, you are going to find a plethora of books…and most of them are written by white women, with a tendency to fall into the conservative Christian interpretation of angels. And while there are some very good books within this category, there are also some amazing stories outside this white feathery room. Stories that would usually be glanced over because they are not the usual ‘book about angels’. The content…yikes. I agree with an earlier reviewer when she said that her brain was having trouble wrapping around some of the terrifying treatment this woman received in a “next door”, suburban community. I kept thinking, “How on earth could this be happening!!” But, it did.For Waikato University professor Dr Maryanne Garry, an expert in memory, there’s no proof that recovered memory is real, and she says it is “dangerous” to rely on it in court without supporting evidence.