The Blind Light

Description

Shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award 2021 'Extraordinary' - Spectator 'Powerful' - Guardian 'Spellbinding' - The Tablet As the 1950s draw to a close, and the Cold War escalates, the shape of Drummond Moore's life is changed beyond measure when he strikes up an unlikely friendship with James Carter, a rich and well-connected fellow national serviceman. Carter leads him to Doom Town - an army base that seeks to recreate the effects of a nuclear war - where he meets Gwen, a barmaid with whom he shares an instant connection. Set over sixty years of British history, The Blind Light by Stuart Evers is the compelling story of one family as they deal with the personal and political fallout of their times.

Stuart Evers' debut, Ten Stories About Smoking, won the London Book Award in 2011; his highly acclaimed novel, If This is Home, followed in 2012 and his collection Your Father Sends His Love, was shortlisted for the 2016 Edge Hill Short Story Prize. In 2017, Evers won the Eccles British Library Writer's Award - one of Europe's richest prizes for a work in progress. His work has appeared in three editions of the Best British Short Stories, as well as Granta, the White Review, Prospect and on Radio 4. Originally from the North West, he lives in London.

A thoughtful and powerful study of the corrosive effects of fear, the damage we do to ourselves and our loved ones when danger is all we can see . . . disconcertingly timely * Guardian * A panoramic novel of modern Britain . . . extraordinary * Spectator * The Blind Light reads like a British Don DeLillo, telling the social history of Britain through two generations of a family -- Alex Preston, Observer Engrossing . . . A terrific book -- Samira Ahmed, BBC Radio 4 Evers excels in his close examination of relationships . . . the complicated nature of guilt and loss is beautifully handled . . . an absorbing read * Irish Independent * Powerfully imagined . . . multi-threaded, unflinching, and visceral * TLS * A shrewd, timely novel * New York Times * A spellbinding family history, encompassing the personal and the political * The Tablet * Rivals the work of American greats such as Bellow and Franzen * The Week * Evers's book is a widescreen family saga that examines, among other things, the effect of the nuclear threat during the Cold War on the British psyche . . . it's absorbing - and uncannily timed in its perversely consoling sense of how crises come and go * Daily Mail * The Blind Light is a page-perfect and impeccably structured portrait of Britain's troubled, post-nuclear generations . . . Evers has written a powerful and affecting novel which excels at being as true to Family and the personal as it is to Nation and the universal, a rare and potent combination -- Jim Crace, author of Harvest One is taken both by the breadth of vision and the depth of character on offer in Evers' stunning The Blind Light . . . This is an achievement to be admired and, frankly, envied. My hat is off -- Laird Hunt A thoroughly absorbing novel which illuminates the nature of friendship and family while offering a compelling portrait of Britain. I loved it -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love Extraordinarily intense, and intensely well written, the echoes of our current situation are uncomfortably close at hand. A complex and powerful novel -- Lissa Evans, author of Old Baggage and Crooked Heart A social history told through 2 generations of the same family. Beautiful & funny & moving. And a hugely hopeful read for our strange new world -- Sarah Franklin, author of Shelter The Blind Light is staged on a far grander scale than its predecessor. Submerged currents from the cold war guide the plotline . . . [Lyrical but precise descriptions] are the moments when The Blind Light shines most brightly * Financial Times * A sprawling, absorbing, epic crossing generations * Cumbria Life * Subtle and sombre . . . Love, luck, debts and domestic life play out against a historical backdrop that takes in the Cuban Missile Crisis, strikes, civil unrest and the rise of rave culture * Sunday Express *