The Gate of Angels

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize: A novel of two "wonderful characters" who meet by accident in Edwardian England, and fall inconveniently in love ( The Washington Post).   In 1912, rational scientist Fred Fairly, one of Cambridge's best and brightest, crashes his bike and wakes up in bed with a stranger—fellow casualty Daisy Saunders, a charming, pretty, and almost pathologically generous working-class nurse. So begins a series of complications—not only of the heart but also of the head—as Fred and Daisy take up each other's education and turn each other's philosophies upside down.   From the recipient of a National Book Critics Circle Award, among other honors, this story of an unlikely and possibly doomed romance is a "deft comedy of manners . . . Fitzgerald's elegant prose shines with intelligence and subtle wit . . . Her flair for well-drawn eccentric characters will appeal to fans of Muriel Spark and Barbara Pym" ( Library Journal).   "A singular accomplishment." — Boston Globe   "Powerfully bewitching." — Los Angeles Times