Unforgotten

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY SEP 2, 2013

Lovely and enigmatic, Australian artist/writer Riddle's fantasy begins with expressionless angels resembling small children descending into a gloomy city whose skies are filled with zeppelins and a haze of factory smoke. The angels are invisible to the inhabitants, whose stiffly posed bodies are topped by the heads of antique statues. As they try to mend the mortals, one angel is overcome by fatigue and sinks to the ground, where it becomes visible and immobile so that it is hoisted to a pedestal as a piece of decorative art. Fortunately an odd little band of rescuers restores the angel to health so it can take flight again. That simple plot is related in a wispy poem threaded through Riddle's gorgeous collages of the dreadful metropolis, interrupted by hovering white angels and glimpses of blue sky. This title will likely appeal more to adults than to children, but kids may also respond to its uncanny beauty.