If you have read any of Naill Williams’ novels, you know that he is a wonderfully lyrical writer who sprinkles his storytelling with the spiritual and the mystical. “As It Is In Heaven” is no exception. This 300-page novel is the story of a couple of unlikely lovers— Stephen Griffin, a quietly shy, 32-year-old history teacher who has spent his life growing up in Ireland lost in books, and Gabriella Castoldi, a beautiful, temperamental and talented classical violinist who has chosen to expiate herself from her native Venice to live in a mountain village on the western coast of Ireland. Their views of the world and their interaction with each other is shaped by the two vastly different fathers who raised them — one a loving, giving father who is physically present in the first half of the novel and the other a selfish, angry, unloving father who presence is known only through Gabriella’s troubled memories. Like Williams’ “This Is Happiness,” this is a story about loss, grief, hope and healing.
I finished reading “As It Is In Heaven,” by Irish writer Niall Williams, this past week. Very very enjoyable book. See my mini review in ALT. #BlueBrewBooks #Reading #Books #NiallWilliams #IrishWriters
