''An Angel in Australia'' is a 2002 novel by

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, wh ...

. Set in Australia during World War II, it follows the life of a young

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

, Father Frank Darragh, in 1940s

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Publication history

*An Angel in Australia, 2002, Australia, Doubleday Australia *The Office of Innocence, 2002, England, Sceptre *Office of Innocence, 2003, USA,

Nan A. Talese Nan Talese (née Ahearn; born December 19, 1933) is a retired American editor, and a veteran of the New York publishing industry. Talese was the senior vice president of Doubleday. From 1990 to 2020, Talese was the publisher and editorial direct ...

/Doubleday

Reception

A review in the ''

Australian Book Review ''Australian Book Review'' is an Australian arts and literary review. Created in 1961, ''ABR'' is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are 'to ...

'' called it "an oxymoronic book — a subdued novel", and further "Its accent is meditative, its notes of sadness leavened by the resilient self-regard of the characters he eneallyhas mustered.". ''An Angel in Australia'' has also been reviewed by ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Awards and nominations

* International Dublin Literary Award: nominated 2004The 2004 Award
*

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

: shortlisted 2003

References

Novels by Thomas Keneally Novels set during World War II 2002 Australian novels Australian historical novels Novels set in Australia Doubleday (publisher) books {{2000s-WWII-novel-stub