Thomas E. Kennedy's "In the Company of Angels"

Several weeks ago I was in a local Borders checking out the new fiction releases and one particular cover caught my attention. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the book was Tom Kennedy's novel In the Company of Angels. If you regularly read this blog or Absinthe you'll know that Tom contributes the "Shout from Copenhagen" column (in addition to contributing a number of translations to the magazine). He has been a good friend to Absinthe and so I was very pleased to see the attention his book is getting. In the Company of Angels is part of Kennedy's "Copenhagen Quartet" and is the first of the four to be published in the U.S.


A few days after my Borders visit I was fortunate to receive a copy in the mail and though I'm not yet done reading it I can say that it deserves all the accolades it's been receiving. Here's a sampling of some of the reviews:

It probably doesn’t reflect glowingly on American expat Kennedy’s native country that this watershed novel is the first to be published in the U.S. after a decade of acclaim abroad. Why it’s taken so long is anyone’s guess, as there’s plenty to admire in the serpentine unwinding of troubled protagonists adrift in contemporary Copenhagen.

--from a starred review in Publishers Weekly

An artfully written story with a conscience.

--Kirkus Reviews

If its stellar quality is any indication, the entire quartet promises to be an exceptional reading experience.... This novel offers much more than just a beautiful writing style. Each character's story is so undeniably interesting that the reader gains a sense of the wonder of disparate lives with unpredictable but intriguing connections.

--from a starred review in Booklist

Kennedy writes with unusual insight and compassion, depicting the best and the worst of the human experience. His work may be new to U.S. readers, but it merits greater attention, and we should look forward to seeing the other three books in his quartet published here.

--Library Journal

Pick up a copy for you and a friend!