The Angelic Avengers

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Originally published in 1944 as Ways of Retribution / Gengældelsens veje in Copenhagen Denmark under the pseudonym Pierre Andrezel, The Angelic Avengers is a political allegory and melodramatic thriller by Isak Dinesen written during the German occupation. The two ways of retribution referred to in the original title regard punishment of evil or mercy toward its practitioners. In the story, a lonely young girl, Lucan, has been orphaned and seeks refuge with a friend from her school years, Zosine who will soon be deserted. Bound together by poverty, grief and their shared years at school, they set out to make a future for themselves in new surroundings. They are adopted by the austere, puritanical Reverend Pennhallow and his wife, and in their large, gloomy house they become immersed in study. But, after a chain of disturbing events, it does not take long before they realize that the cleric and his wife are not all they seem to be.