Small Miracles

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Were Pratchett alive, I dare to hope he’d agree with my rating, if he read the book, which according to Atwater, is somewhat of a homage to his “Good Omens”.

His/Her purview is minor transgressions. He’s/she’s not really evil despite the fallen angel status, but rather mischievous, and his/her agenda is not really sinister. What Gadriel does is prod humans to succumb to minor temptations, and thus achieve overall increased happiness and satisfaction with their lot in life.I won’t dwell on the story details. It deliberately seeks out the small pleasures of contemporary life that occur everyday and help you wade through the daily grind. Chocolate being one major example. I had already read and very much enjoyed an earlier self published trilogy by the author (E.g. Half a Soul) which gently satirised Jane Austen/Brontë sister storylines by inserting a slightly harder edge to life in those periods, and with more contrarian characters. Maybe that harder undertone to the plot which I’d liked wasn’t quite as clear here as in that previous trilogy. My only other concern was the use of footnotes, which I’m not a fan of, especially when reading in my preferred ebook format. Fortunately their use wasn’t excessive and I saw why they were used in some instances.

If Good Omens was a rom-com and put less emphasis on David Tennant and… I mean Aziraphale and Crowley, it would be close to Small Miracles. Or the other way round. I guess one is better than the other? Perhaps? Gaiman and Pratchett vs Olivia Atwater? This was not supposed to be a difficult choice. There are many favourite parts of the book I could list, but one of them is the casual treatment of gender fluidity and queerness. As Steve Jobs would have said, It Just Works; effortless, unforced, and wonderful. Kudos to how Atwater approaches gender fluidity in the novel! As per many interpretations of Angels from a Christian perspective, which denotes them as not being assigned a gender in the way humans can comprehend. Atwater notes in her work, casually,

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Although there is no impending, world-ending disaster lurking in “Small Miracles”– this is considerably lighter fare. But its lightness doesn’t mean it’s not a worthwhile, intriguing book. This one is very likely to appeal to anyone looking for a cozy, low-stakes comfort read. The characters are well constructed and the book is well-paced while being short. It pressed almost all the right buttons for me and I’m glad it got assigned to me to review. I think this is my favorite book from this year’s SPFBO. This book focuses on Gadriel (not to be mistaken for Gabriel), a fallen angel of petty temptations, who has strong views on chocolate not being a sin. As a favor for their heavenly sibling, Barachiel, Gadriel agrees to tempt Holly Harker to sin some, which sounds simple enough, but we know things are never simple. As Gadriel tries to figure out what is going on, they get to discover some long-lost parts of themselves.

SPFBO Finalist Interview: Olivia Atwater". fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com. April 6, 2023 . Retrieved September 9, 2023. Holly’s gruff niece Ella was also a fabulous character, and her teenaged life at school provided more exceptional opportunities for character development for all three: Gadriel, Holly, and Ella. Both Holly and Ella are dealing with emotional and psychological pain, and the bond between the three becomes one of catharsis and healing, in unintended ways for all of them. But yes, a fine little book that is a worthy winner of the SPFBO (beating 299 other entries) and one you should snatch up right now if it sounds the least bit like your thing, or perhaps an interesting experiment.Angels… chose a gender for the day, in rather the same way that you or I might choose a shirt or trousers…But as with any fashion choice there is always the danger that one might turn up at a luncheon meeting wearing exactly the same gender as the friend with whom one is meeting. This is considered both gauche and embarrassing.” No book is perfect, obviously, and that’s the case with Small Miracles. I personally could have done with a little more world building. The story is set in modern day London, so that alleviates the need to craft an entirely new setting. There were just a few moments when I felt like maybe making some of the fantasy elements or twists a little more obvious would have been beneficial. This isn’t a huge complaint, and may have more to do with my general preference for secondary world fantasy than anything else. A slightly larger complaint has to do with the romance sub-plot in the novel. For me, it didn’t feel particularly engaging. I was actually slightly surprised by the way it turned out in the end. Again, this isn’t a huge complaint and didn’t end up affecting my overall enjoyment much. But in a novel where the motivations for all the characters felt very clear, the romance elements didn’t feel quite a clear or believable. The angelic beings’ gender fluidity is an interesting touch with a consistent explanation within the story. The human characters accept this pretty much at face value with Holly simply noting “I don’t mean to be insulting… it’s just that… weren’t you a woman before.” Holly’s open-mindedness is refreshing, particularly in the contemporary context. It’s witty, whimsical and with some nice plot ideas. For example, I think I recall that angels, in traditional mythology, don’t have a defined gender and I thought it was clever how the author allowed the main Angel characters (the three main ones, I think) to select the gender they’d appear in that day almost on a random basis! Confusing sometimes for the human characters in the story but they seemed to get used to it. This is a very low stakes, heart warming read. It's at times funny and the characters with their everyday struggles are interesting and likeable.