Selling Light by Effie Gray

This is one of the Great Little Reads collection from Roast Books and the first book that I have read from this publisher. Roast Books promise and deliver:

‘GREAT LITTLE READS’, HANDSOME EDITIONS DESIGNED TO BE READ ON A LONG LUNCH HOUR OR SINGLE TRAIN JOURNEY’.

Selling Light is slim, small, textured, with flaps, utterly pleasing to the eye and to the touch. The back lists ingredients and a blurb. I am already excited.

The story revolves around a lighthouse, a grieving man and a young research student. Briege is a loner, preferring the company of the friends that she finds in rock pools. She listens and is able to pick the perfect name for each rock pool creature that she meets, as if they are ‘whispering’ to her. She draws them, she befriends them, she captures their essence. Then Briege meets George, the man who is living in the next caravan to her. She is intrigued, he is consumed by grief and “during their short meeting, she had been unable to meet him at all”. Beautiful.

Shortly, the connection between them flickers. He thinks that the crabs that she draws are the luckiest creatures in the world. He envies their shells and around her George begins to forget his sorrows. (There is the briefest of moments, when I thought that they would possibly begin to trust). Then, Peter Cooper arrives. A city boy who lacks both light and soul. He is convinced that the ‘world is his whore’. He has bought a person’s life and that life’s lighthouse from an online advert, costing a mere £19,000. He enters the story with noise and disturbs the light…

The shifts in perspective, moving from character to character, often give a disjointed feel to the story, yet they are controlled and cleverly manage to slot characters back into place. This is an accessible read, with crafted characters who explore loss, loneliness, difference and hope.

Possibly one of the reasons that I so utterly connected with Briege is that she reminded me of Momo (one of my favourite ever novels). Momo has a gift, that similar extraordinary beauty that is often hidden within. Selling Light contains a strong female lead, superhero analogy and lighthouses, three of the things I like best in the world. This quirky, fresh, lyrical story was always going to be a winner with me.

Selling Light, which I wholeheartedly recommend, can be bought here.