Book Review: A Light in the Dark by Allee Richards
The first year of high school brought Iris into a type of privilege she’d never felt part of. But then she found her place. The magic of performing in school musicals and the freedom of the stage opened her up to a new world. Her drama teacher gave her a glimpse of the adult she wanted to be. But, just like in the theatre, when the spotlight is off you, it can be a lonely and neglected existence. For Iris, jealousy and bitterness will grow. For Nina, something more dangerous. Reckless anger and rumours will come to a head. And, years later, there is a reckoning for them all.
A Light in the Dark is a compelling novel that distils the magic of theatre as the backdrop for an unforgettable examination of friendship, vulnerability, power and abuse.
Published by Hachette Australia
Released 30th August 2023
My Thoughts:Earlier this year I read Small Joys of Real Life, the debut novel by Allee Richards. One perk of reading a brilliant novel long after its release is that you don’t have to wait too long for the author’s next book! And here that next book is: A Light in the Dark. Once again, Allee Richards has gifted us a story that is both devastating and uplifting all at once. Themes of grief, family relationships, and friendship intermingle in this story, with a side of repressed trauma and teenage recklessness. Sounds heavy, I know, and at times it was, but it’s not a depressing or mournful read – just a very real one.
‘Happiness doesn’t preclude sadness. She’s learning the two feelings can sit on the same shelf.’
Half of the novel is about Iris at high school, specifically her involvement with the school musicals and her so called nemesis, Nina. Teenage jealousies abound in the world of high school musical theatre and the fluidity of the environment allows a more sinister element to flourish under the direction of the young and hip musical theatre director. The abuse of power that takes place within these formative years for Iris and Nina has lasting repercussions on them both.
The second half of the novel unfolds when Iris is in her early twenties, grieving the fresh loss of her mother and struggling to navigate her way through everyday life, on the cusp of addiction. News of Nina and an allegation she has made against their former musical theatre director further derails Iris and brings to the fore trauma she has repressed and minimised since high school. Allee Richards deftly examines the way in which we can minimise the things that happen to us in order to deal with them best and how our memories of people and events can take on a different hue, dependent upon our own perceptions and feelings within any given moment.
I loved this novel as much as I loved her first and can say with conviction that Allee Richards is one of my favourite authors now, a queen of contemporary life-lit. The way she writes about grief is raw and real, demonstrating with sensitivity the way in which grief is not something you necessarily get over, but rather, something that shifts within you to a more bearable space. I’m excited to see what she writes next.
Thanks to the publisher for the copy.
