What: Penelope Fitzgerald's slim novel The Gate of Angels is set in Cambridge University in 1912. It involves: the coming prominence of physics, a cycling accident, London nurses, Daisy and Fred, debating societies, women's suffrage, theories of chaos, and eccentric dons. Not bad for a book that's fewer than 200 pages long.
Comparable to: Jeanette Winterson also has a tendency to pack a lot into a small space, but Fitzgerald's style is much more along the lines of Muriel Spark.
Representative quote: "Professor Flowerdew, with his melancholy smile, had told him that he could not hold out any great hopes for the future of the material universe. On the other hand, he had spoken very highly of Fred."
You might not like it if: You don't like reading about the coming prominence of physics, cycling accidents, London nurses, Daisy-and-Freds, debating societies, women's suffrage, theories of chaos, or eccentric dons.
How to get it: The physical book ways (stores, libraries).
Connections to previous Wreckage: Jeanette Winterson's The Passion (Rec. #66) is similarly brief. Muriel Spark's novels (of which Loitering with Intent, Rec. #13, is one) have certain tonal similarities.
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