Pages:
320
Publisher:
Orchard
Release
Date: 14th
January 2016
Edition:
UK proof, review
copy
How
is it that you can suddenly notice a person? How is it that one day Digby was
my best friend’s admittedly cute twin brother, and then the next he stole air, gave
jitters and twisted my insides up?
Lucille
has bigger problems than falling for her best friend’s unavailable brother. Her
mom has gone, leaving her to look after her sister, Wren. With bills mounting
up and appearances to keep, Lucille is raging against her life but holding it
together – just.
A
stunning debut to devour in one sitting, Laure completely captures the agony
and ecstasy of first love.
This
Raging Light is
very much my kind of novel: a contemporary novel about loss and love and friendship
told in exquisitely beautiful prose. I really, really enjoyed it.
Within only a few pages Estelle
Laure had flawed me with her writing. It’s fluid, lyrical and so evocative. The
way that Lucille describes her feelings for Digby blew me away. It felt so
familiar, so real in that abstract, dramatic way that unrequited love always
does. I could have read a whole novel about Lucille waxing lyrical about Digby
without a single complaint, other than Digby’s name ‘cos it’s a little strange
and just reminds me of the teacher in Lizzie
McGuire…
Lucille’s friendship with Eden
was one of my very favourite elements of This
Raging Light. I loved the honesty in their relationship, especially with
the advice and help Eden gave Lucille while she was struggling to come to terms
with everything she now has to deal with. How Eden came to her rescue helping
with Wren and did everything she could for her, but also didn’t stop them
having the normal friendship difficulties was so well done. It felt fresh. Of course,
Digby came to the rescue too, but he also gave Lucille a hefty dose of
confusion and further agony to contend with. I'm glad that everything about
Lucille’s narration didn’t begin and end with what she was dealing with, she still
had room for the things that had plagued her before her mum left.
This
Raging Light ends
with on a wonderfully positive note, but still open enough to feel natural. It was
the perfect ending to a beautiful but emotionally tough novel. I'm so looking
forward to seeing what Estelle Laure brings out next.
Thanks to Macmillan for the
review copy.
Sophie
I've got a copy of this on my kindle, I'm really excited about it :)
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