Apostles of Light: A Novel

by Ellen Douglas, Elizabeth Spencer

The elderly couple in this fine novel, a retired schoolteacher and the doctor with whom she has had a lifelong, tender love affair, find that, almost by accident, they have forfeited control of their own lives. Trapped in a nursing home, they are the victims of the biblical "apostles of light," the deceitful do-gooders who profess righteousness. In subtle, elegant prose Ellen Douglas recounts a gripping story of their brave attempt to free themselves from a dreadful plight. They must confront both their corrupt and evil custodians and their well-meaning younger relatives who are tempted by greed, ambition, cowardice, and indifference. "Apostles of Light" was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1973.

Genres: Fiction

307 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Ellen Douglas is the pseudonym for Josephine Haxton, whose family roots extend back to the earliest settlements in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Her fiction has won many prizes, including the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, the Hillsdale Prize for Fiction from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award.

Reviews

[Thom Dunn]

Details the depth to which abuse of the elderly can sink absent regulation and enforcement. Harrowing tale isn't about bad or especially greedy people, but ordinary men creating hellish conditions for the elderly by turning their attention away results of their plan to build a nursing home. {A Mary Sohngen list item}

[Julene]

Ellen Douglas is a writer I've tracked down every book of hers I could find. She is a southern writer and this is her alias or pen name. Apostles of Light takes place in a nursing home with the two main characters trying to escape; it is funny, heart wrenching, and each character is fully drawn.

[Paul]

An amazing novel. Unusual setting--the elderly, great characterization, realistic, disturbing, and builds to a page-turning fervor. Set in southern Mississippi, the novel gives a realistic perspective of Satanic undertones to what appear to be good actions toward the elderly and blacks. There is so much worthy of discussion in this excellent novel.

[Corey Davis]

just your good 'ole summer-ripe Southern gothic literary thriller. brimming with thematic depth and narrative irony, it explores a prescient topic and brings it home with a truly shocking ending. i blew through this thing like somebody lit a fire under me.

[Nranger7]

Can't say that I really liked this book. Depressing subject matter...

[Stephan Ferreira]

I put this one in the neighborhood free library when finished. It stuck around the longest. I think it sort of freaked everyone out.