On an overheated, politically charged autumn afternoon in 2017, as an autocrat's punitive federal budget and illegal travel ban stand poised to take effect, a journalist researching a railroad piece meets a dead ringer for her lifelong hero in Washington D.C.
Now, he needs a favor - an escort to a certain California bridge to complete an unknown mission - and she must decide whether to serve as his guide...regardless of the consequences.
Lively story of a disillusioned American reporter who encounters the impossible: a mind-reading Abraham Lincoln himself, just when the nation needs him the most. Better Angel earns its originality by rooting the supernatural in contemporary reality...Green capably melds past with present and fantasy with real-life... a wealth of political editorializing, but the narrator's obvious passion for her country is endearing.— The BookLife Prize
An imaginative blend of travel fiction, political reflection, and ghost story that places Abraham Lincoln back into the American conversation... a moving window into America: its divisions, contradictions, arguments, memories, and hopes...For readers who enjoy historical figures set in modern settings, reflective American travel stories, or novels that use a journey to examine the national character, Better Angel offers an original and thoughtful ride.— a.d. elliott, Rite of Fancy Book Recommendations & Reviews
Some books ask you to suspend disbelief. Better Angel asks you to suspend certainty. One of the most original speculative novels I’ve encountered in years.— Melissa Suggit, Independent Book Review
Brilliant speculative fiction... one of the funniest voices I have read in ages. Green knows Lincoln thoroughly enough to let him argue with the record.
An engaging tale with tautly rendered characters and humor that never slackens... the train becomes a democratic microcosm of today's America.
A whimsical look at what might occur if Abraham Lincoln were to reappear today and how he would view the state of America in the twenty-first century.
— Featured 5-Star Reviews via Readers' Favorite (Jamie Michele, Ruffina Oserio, Grant Leishman)