When a friend dies, Julia Garnet goes to stay in Venice, where a lifetime of caution is thrown to the wind. She encounters the paintings in the local church which tell the story of Tobias and the Angel. The ancient tale of Tobias, who travels to Media unaware he is accompanied by the Archangel Raphael, unfolds alongside Julia's' contemporary journey. As she unravels the story's history, Julia's own life is thrown into question - for, like the shifting sea-light of Venice, nothing here is quite as it seems.

Salley Vickers writes with a poise and a wit which belies the novel's deeper themes; love, death and the growth of the human spirit. This many-layered novel defies the usual categories.

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