Product Description

The four Casson children, whose mother, Eve, is a fine-arts painter, have all been given the names of paint colors. Cadmium (Caddy), is the eldest; then Saffron (Saffy); Indigo, the only boy; and Rose, the youngest. When Saffy discovers quite by accident that she has been adopted, she is deeply upset, though the others assure her that it makes no difference at all. Saffy is the daughter of Eve's twin sister, who lived in Siena, Italy, and died in a car crash. Grandad brought Saffy, as a very small child, back from Siena.

At Grandad's death he leaves something to each of the children. To Saffy, it is "her angel," although no one knows its identity. How Saffy discovers what her angel is, with the help of an energetic new friend, lies at the heart of this enchanting story. Unforgettable characters come alive in often deeply humorous and always absorbing events to be treasured for a long, long time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #313378 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From Amazon.co.uk
Whitbread Book Award-winning author Hilary McKay is no stranger to high praise, but for Saffy's Angel she really deserves the top honours. This heavenly little book tells the story of Cadmium, Saffron, Indigo and Rose--siblings who are each as colourful as their exotic names suggest.

Close-knit and divinely eccentric, the family (under the not-so-stable guidance of their mother Eve and their weary father, Bill) chug along quite nicely until one day Saffron discovers she was adopted by the family following the death of her mother, Eve's twin sister. As Saffron tries to come to terms with the shocking news, her grandfather dies and bequeaths her a stone angel in his will. But where is it? Saffron, her remarkable family and her new found friend, Sarah, embark on a search that sees Saffy heading for Sienna in Italy while her brother and sisters determine to leave no stone unturned in their quest for the cherub they know will make all the difference in the world to their beloved adopted sister.

Saffy's Angel is written with a simple, understated elegance that allows the reader access to the kind of family we would all, secretly, love to belong to. Each character is drawn with an enviable artistry coupled with, one suspects, a tongue-in the cheek that adds a sharp realistic air to a modern household with a heart of pure, old-fashioned gold. And it is these fabulous characters who lead the unfurling of the story, easing the reader through the pages with an irresistible wit and warmth that smartly avoids cosiness but nonetheless leaves a soothing rosy glow.

Marvellous stuff from a marvellous author who has the potential to knock even the queen of children's fiction, Jacqueline Wilson, off her perch, this sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking book is a must-read. And don't be put off by the pinkness of the packaging: it might look terribly girly, but at the heart of the matter is a fantastically straightforward, deeply satisfying, superior read for anyone who has a heart and a few hours to spare. Suitable for ages 10 and over. --Susan Harrison

From Publishers Weekly
McKay's (The Exiles; Dog Friday) sparkling novel once again introduces an eccentric, entirely engaging British family whose members readers will immediately embrace. The Casson parents, both artists delightfully distracted Eve paints in her backyard shed and comically distant Bill spends weekdays painting in his London studio named their children from a paint color chart: Caddy (for Cadmium), Indigo and Rose. All but Saffron, "so fierce and alone," who learns at the start of the story that she is actually the Italian-born daughter of Eve's twin sister, who died in a car crash when Saffy was three. Eve explains that Grandfather had been visiting Saffy and Saffy's mother in Siena at the time of the accident, and delivered the girl to the Cassons, who adopted her. Now elderly and catatonic after two heart attacks, beloved Grandfather sits in silence when he visits the family, as the children hover around him, endearingly sharing news of their lives. When Grandfather dies, "They felt as if they had lost a battle they might have won if only they had tried a bit harder."The man leaves something to each of the children: Caddy receives his crumbling cottage on a cliff in Wales; Indigo his aged Bentley (which Bill dismisses as an "absolute wreck"); Rose his remaining cash (L144). Attached to the will by a rusty pin is a note scrawled in a shaky hand, "For Saffron. Her angel in the garden. The stone angel." As McKay shapes an intriguing plot around Saffy's angel, the Cassons' capricious capers and understated, droll dialogue will keep readers chuckling. Especially entertaining subplots include: reckless Caddy's driving lessons with her patient instructor (who fabricates a girlfriend to keep his flirtatious student in check), aspiring polar explorer Indigo's sessions sitting on his bedroom windowsill, hoping to cure his vertigo, and Rose's efforts to create works of art using such unlikely materials as "the entire contents of the refrigerator" and the pound coins that constitute her inheritance. An unlikely friendship with Sarah ("the wheelchair girl"), a neighbor, brings out another side of Saffy as the two attempt to find her angel in Siena, and Saffy makes all kinds of discoveries, including her love for the Cassons. The author blends a generous heaping of humor and joy with a dose of pain in a memorable portrait of a vastly human family.The only disappointment for readers may be that McKay's affecting conclusion arrives too soon. They'll close this book hoping for the Casson clan's swift return. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-The Casson family is an endearingly eccentric bunch. Big sister Cadmium, an appallingly bad driver even after hundreds of lessons with an attractive instructor, is studying for her college entrance exams. Saffron, 13, isolates herself from the family after learning that she is actually an adopted cousin whose mother died when Saffy was very young. Indigo works hard to defeat his fears through most unusual means. Rose, the youngest, is an expert at manipulating their pompous father and delightfully ditsy mum, both artists. When their granddad dies, he leaves Saffy a stone angel, which she decides must still be in Italy, her birthplace. With the help of her wheelchair-mobile friend, Sarah Warbeck, who is wickedly adept at managing her parents, Saffy stows away on their family trip to Italy. Although the angel is not there, she learns to appreciate her own family and home. Meanwhile, her siblings set off on a comical car trip to Wales, where the statue is found. Rose provides much of the humor on this trip, with her funny messages to the irritated drivers stuck behind hapless Caddy's car. These charming characters never respond to events in ways one might expect, leading readers to anticipate the whimsical situations. Although humor is predominant, several characters experience significant growth. Delicious phrasing and a wonderfully descriptive style add further to the sense of British eccentricity, reminiscent of Helen Cresswell's "Bagthorpe Saga" (Atheneum; o.p.). This family's story, in which every activity becomes an artistic expression, will surely fly off the shelves.
B. Allison Gray, South Country Library, Bellport, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Just call me angel of the morning
To grab a child's interest, books written for them will usually concentrate on something fun or interesting that they might like to be a part of. In the case of "Saffy's Angel", author Hilary McKay has combined two or three different fantasies a child might enjoy. The fantasy of belonging to a big crazy artistic family. The fantasy of living in a big crazy house full of mysterious boxes and items. And the fantasy of solving a mystery of one's very own.

In this story, young Saffron (Saffy) finds that she is not her parent's child after all. In fact, she was the daughter of her mother's sister, adopted at a very early age. When Saffy's grandfather dies and leaves her, "Saffy's angel", the girl sets off on a quest to recover that which is rightfully hers.
The book isn't too dissimilar from "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" in that the story revolves around a mystery (solved by children) and a statue. The story itself is bright and lively and never gets bogged down by characters, plots, or settings. McKay too has created imaginative people, each with a distinct and subtle personality. Many parts of this book are quite amusing (for instance, Saffy's mother leaves a note that tells the others that she'll be hanging the paintings done by the juvenile delinquents she works with that reads, "hanging Young Offenders in the library"). And the story is a good one. Top notch, in fact.

My qualms (and I did have one or two) involve that old bugaboo "the artistic vs. the sane". How often do we read stories in which nice sensible people are considered troglodytes because they act normally and with reason, rather than scatterbrained and "artistic"? In this case, the reader is well set up to dislike Saffy's adoptive father. Bill mostly does not live with the family, preferring to live in London with his art and visit occasionally. Everyone is perfectly happy with this arrangement, and Bill is often set up as the jerk with too much common sense. Whenever somebody dies he inevitably acts the pompous unfeeling cad. On the other hand, the book really doesn't give enough credit to the fact that though an unwelcome parent, he's obviously far more capable than his too often negligent wife. When the children become ill, he is the one to separate them so that others do not become sick. He is capable of saying no to the children when they do something stupid or potentially dangerous. His wife, on the other hand, is completely unfit to be in charge of children. She spends all her time out of eyeshot or earshot of her kids in a shed where she paints. She never says no. When the children (miraculously, only one is a complete brat) act in inappropriate ways, "Eve (their mother) always stuck out these grim times as bravely as she could. After all, she would tell herself, she had known from the day the children were born that they were in every way more talented, intelligent, and wise than she would ever be". Which is her excuse for letting them drive to Wales with her terrible driver daughter at the wheel, sit on window ledges paralyzed with fright, or eat paint found in garbage cans.

I loved this book. I disliked the mother. Beyond that flaw, it's an enjoyable romp with children that (with the exception of the youngest little spoiled creature) you grow to love slowly but surely. I would recommend this readily without any hesitation to anyone wishing to read a fun British adventure. It is truly a book that should be better known.

Mother Daughter Book Club @ Edmeston Central School (NY)
The purpose of this club is to read books with strong female characters and Saffy's Angel immediately caught our attention. It looked interesting and filled with suspense and adventure. Our favorite character overall in this book was Indigo. Sarah's father was extremely funny and interesting. The way that Sarah hid Saffy and allowed her to come with her (without her parent's permission) was kind and a good deed from a close friend. Bill was a rude, obnoctious father that didn't really care and didn't seem to know anything about his family and children, adopted or not. Saffy's "Aunt" was almost the same as Bill. But she wasn't mean or obnoctious. She just spent all of her time in the shed, painting. Indigo had to make dinner and everything. We felt bad for the kids who didnt really have a parent to fall back on.
We would recommend this book (10-14 year olds) to about anyone who is willing to read a good book and get a life lesson

eccentric English family grows on you
Saffron is part of a zany, disorganized, artistic English family in which all the children are named after colors. When she finds out that she's adpoted, she decides she wants to go to Italy to find an angel statue left to her in her grandfather's will. This is an odd book about a terribly irresponsible and inept family which got under my skin and charmed me after awhile. I ended up understanding through their actions how they loved each other.