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ANGEL WALK Book clubs that choose Angel Walk will talk about strong — and not always likeable — women, obsessional love of art and man, and the role art plays in shaping ideas about war. Set in Europe and northern Ontario, Angel Walk is the story of World War II photographer Cory Ditchburn and the relationships that shape her life and art. FAQs to get your group talking Did a female war correspondent like Cory Ditchburn exist? Do you wish you could see Cory's photographs, or do you like the blank frames? How can Cory stand Albert? He was cruel to both her and his wife. What was his magic? Why won't Albert acknowledge Tyke? Does he ever? What affects does war leave on lives, down the generations? More questions to consider After meeting Albert, Cory asks herself “How do I become an artist? Can I be one and be a woman too?” When women wish to be artists they often choose an older male as mentor. The novel reveals some of the pitfalls of this, both for the woman, and the man. Why do women do it? What do we think about this pattern? Does it work? Is it still in play? When Tyke examines Albert's paintings for the first time, he thinks that “The painting was strong, but no stronger than his mother's photographs. He could see how their visions had been pitted against one another, opposed and yet rooted in passion.” What does he see? How do his father's and his mother's viewpoints clash in him? Aunt Eunice says that Cory is “a Ditchburn through and through.” What does it mean to be a Ditchburn? What qualities do Cory, Tyke, Eunice and Robert share? In Chapter 17, the author writes that “if he'd been normal she would never have fallen in love with him.” What does Cory see in Albert Bloom? What do Cory and Mimi have in common? Why do you think Cory agrees to rescue Mimi's daughter, Karin? Lord Beaverbrook is a real historical person. On his tombstone in Westminster Abbey is the following quotation: “He came from nowhere and he did great things.” Who was he? Was Beaverbrook interested in art or money? Or was it something else? What drives a ‘media baron'? What do you think of ‘the black arts'? The curator describes a photo of Tyke: “The photographer's son stands on the rocks near his island home. After the war, Ditchburn rarely photographed other places or strangers.” Why does Cory retreat to Georgian Bay after the war and not actively pursue her photography career? Cory's camera provides a barrier between her and the action: “When she dropped the camera she had to turn away; the sight of the abdominal cavity rimmed with red flesh was one she could face through a lens, but not unprotected.” Do women take different pictures of war than men do? Is it important to have women on the front lines? Does Cory like her grown up son? Do we like our grown-up children in general? Suggestions for further reading Though Cory is a fictional character, the photographer Margaret Bourke-White and reporter and novelist Martha Gellhorn are well-known women who captured the horrors of war during and immediately following World War II. The Canadian army sent several women photographers to Europe, waiting until the hostilities were over. Ironically, the aftermath of war was in some ways more dangerous. On the Second World War: Search Library and Archives Canada for photos taken during World War II at www.collectionscanada.ca . During World War I, Lord Beaverbrook established the Canadian War Memorial Fund, which aimed to capture the action of the war from a Canadian perspective through art. This was the first war art program and continued until its cancellation in 1995. The importance of recording the work of Canadian soldiers around the world was not forgotten, and a new initiative, the Canadian Forces Artists Program, was introduced in 2001. The works Beaverbrook initially commissioned are now displayed in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Visit the museum's collection online at www.warmuseum.ca . For more information about Beaverbrook's initiative and Canadian war art, visit http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/disp/dis010_e.html. In Angel Walk , Cory visits Cherkley Court, Beaverbrook's home between 1910 and 1964, located in Sussex, England. For more information about the historic house, visit http://www.cherkleycourt.com/ . In 2004, a legal dispute between the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation and Beaverbrook Art Gallery brought into question the ownership of dozens of paintings housed in the Fredericton gallery. For background on the dispute, visit http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/beaverbrook/timeline.html More information about Angel Walk What do you think? publications
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