The Angels' Lament

Etched in Granite Historical Fiction Series #2

by M.J. Pettengill

1872. Alone and determined, 17-year-old Sarah Hodgdon boards a train, trading farm life in New Hampshire for the textile mills of Fall River. Woefully disillusioned, she finds herself trapped in a brutal factory and living in a filthy tenement. She is tormented when she learns the fate of her family. About to drown in a sea of spindles, she meets lamplighter, August Wood, who illuminates the gap between the affluent and the undesirables that dwell in the murky shadows. Stripped down to her bare instincts, she retreats into a secret world, that if revealed, would shatter all that remains. Everything collides when Bess, the captivating woman across town, emerges, navigating the dense world of the local elite, offering a glimpse into an era when women were beginning to take the stage. Survival, a resilient thread of music, interweaves their compelling stories, binding them together, unveiling grievous misdeeds from the past.

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2017

About the author

Mj Pettengill, historian and author of the Etched in Granite Historical Fiction Series, focuses on cultural narrative and traditions, historical and intergenerational trauma integration, ancestral healing, and social welfare development. 

She is that woman in the woods, one who carries nuts and seeds in her pocket, hand feeding birds, chipmunks, and other critters. She creates in her woodland studio on a farm in New Hampshire, where she also practices the art of medicinal plants and wildcraft.

Mj is a cellist and has a background in Civil War Musicology and trumpet performance.
In addition to her undergraduate work, she has an MFA in creative writing. 

Reviews

[Frank Settineri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent depiction of life in Boston in the 1870s. M.J. Petttengill weaves a story that contrasts the indigent with the elite, the hopeful with the hopeless, the good with the bad, the right with the wrong, the men with the women. Life was horrific for the poor and outstanding for the rich. Although those extremes exist in today's world they are but a speck of what it was like one hundred fifty years ago.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb historical series.

[sharon murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book

Wow! All I can say is I couldn't put this book down for long. 💖 So many strong characters come together to form such a great story. But this book. You won't regret it!