Destiny: Miss Garnet's Angel
Julia Garnet is sixty years old, emotionally repressed, sexually inexperienced and has spent her life in almost sacrificial frugality. She is also the amazed heir to her former - even more frugal - housemate's legacy. Harriet seems to have had a secret: a genius for investment! Who knew? Certainly not Julia Garnet who did not believe in Destiny.Destiny: Miss Garnet's Angel
Both Julia and Harriet were dutifully pro-labour, even deriving a sense of moral superiority - or at least moral purity - from the connection. But beneath the austere surface, Julia Garnet was hungry for adventure, for travel, and, most unexpectedly, for beauty, the latter having been limited to admiring the inherent loveliness of flowers in other people's gardens. Julia was starved for joy and she was shrinking into oblivion when her housemate's sudden death changed everything and brought Julia face to face
with Destiny. Where would you go if you suddenly had money to travel? France? Egypt? Bora Bora? Miss Garnet chose that most decadent and sensuous of Europe's cities, La Serenissima, Venice. The mere mention of Venice evokes many images in the popular imagination: elaborate Carnivale Masks; extravagant chandeliers and gold leaf interiors; illicit assignations in gondolas; magnificent meals and expensive wines; Murano glass and hand-made shoes. Venice has all of this. And churches. Lots and lots of churches. Miss Garnet was CoE, of course, and like so many of her ilk, suspicious of anything "Romish". Her life was marked by as utter an absence of the voluptuous in terms of spiritual life as it was in terms of daily life. Despite the suspicion and antipathy toward Catholic display, millions of Calvinists seem to feel almost envious of the astounding outpouring of genius and talent that even fairly modest Old World Catholic and Orthodox churches contain. But none amongst them can rival Venice for sheer sensuous indulgence. Despite the ravages of damp and salt, Venice is home to a vast artistic inheritance - one that was about to rock Julia Garnet's world.
with Destiny. Where would you go if you suddenly had money to travel? France? Egypt? Bora Bora? Miss Garnet chose that most decadent and sensuous of Europe's cities, La Serenissima, Venice. The mere mention of Venice evokes many images in the popular imagination: elaborate Carnivale Masks; extravagant chandeliers and gold leaf interiors; illicit assignations in gondolas; magnificent meals and expensive wines; Murano glass and hand-made shoes. Venice has all of this. And churches. Lots and lots of churches. Miss Garnet was CoE, of course, and like so many of her ilk, suspicious of anything "Romish". Her life was marked by as utter an absence of the voluptuous in terms of spiritual life as it was in terms of daily life. Despite the suspicion and antipathy toward Catholic display, millions of Calvinists seem to feel almost envious of the astounding outpouring of genius and talent that even fairly modest Old World Catholic and Orthodox churches contain. But none amongst them can rival Venice for sheer sensuous indulgence. Despite the ravages of damp and salt, Venice is home to a vast artistic inheritance - one that was about to rock Julia Garnet's world.
Destiny Calling
The habits of a lifetime are not easy to break and Julia seeks out a fairly basic lodging except for one detail: the balcony that presents to her view the glory of Venice's architecture and that indescribable 
light that so intrigued artists from da Vinci to Correggio and beyond. From her tiny perch above the teeming canals, Julia Garnet will dive into a life she could not have imagined. Friends had been few and somewhat cold-blooded in England but from her first day in Venice Julia seemed to attract an amazing number of interesting and talented people and for possibly the first time in her life, she fell in love. Not once but twice. And one of the objects her love was - of all things - an Angel. An Archangel to be more precise. A beautiful androgynous Archangel whose presence seemed to follow her around the floating city. His name was Raphael.
light that so intrigued artists from da Vinci to Correggio and beyond. From her tiny perch above the teeming canals, Julia Garnet will dive into a life she could not have imagined. Friends had been few and somewhat cold-blooded in England but from her first day in Venice Julia seemed to attract an amazing number of interesting and talented people and for possibly the first time in her life, she fell in love. Not once but twice. And one of the objects her love was - of all things - an Angel. An Archangel to be more precise. A beautiful androgynous Archangel whose presence seemed to follow her around the floating city. His name was Raphael.
Her other love was Carlo, a charming, worldly man with a vast knowledge of art, especially the artistic treasures resident in his home city. Julia was certainly not looking for love when she ventured out on her first walk along the canal in search of interesting historical landmarks. As a retired teacher of history, Julia had imagined an orderly progress through the history of the city but serendipity was about to enter her life and turn its orderliness on its head.
To be continued in my next post.
© Delia O'Riordan 2012 www.psychic-delia.com
Image credit: Carnivale Masks of Venice courtesy Wikimedia Creative Commons.
Image of Book Cover: Archangel Raphael from Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers: available HERE. in Delia's "A List" Shop in the Angels section.
