Overview

'A powerful story, beautifully told' M.L. STEDMAN'Truly compelling' WILLIAM BOYD‘Exquisitely written and deeply human’ CHRIS CLEAVE'Far-reaching, but also intimate and intensely personal' FLORENCE KNAPP‘Alluring in its twists and turns’ SONIA PURNELL A dazzling literary achievement that brings to life the shattering emotional impact of World War Two on ordinary people Cambridge, 1942 Twins Tessa and Theo had always shared everything – until the summer Tessa spent studying in France. She hasn’t been the same since. But before Theo can find out why, he is recruited by the RAF and disappears into the skies. Determined to carve her own path, Tessa joins the clandestine Special Operations Executive, slipping into the shadows of occupied France. It will be dangerous work, but France is the home of her greatest love – and her darkest secret. Tessa has many reasons for wanting to return. Two years later, only one of them comes home. A dazzling literary achievement that brings to life the shattering emotional impact of World War Two on ordinary people, THE SHOCK OF THE LIGHT is as exhilarating as it is heartbreaking. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––- 'This novel floored me. It is a rare thing and close to perfect… I urge you to pick up this book and read it!' ELIZABETH MACNEAL 'An astonishing page-turner that left me breathless… An essential addition to the wartime literature canon' HOLLY DAWSON 'A beautiful, clever debut, heart-wrenching and totally immersive… the very best example of historical fiction' CESCA MAJOR 'Spine-chilling and beautifully rendered… drew me in from the start' GEORGIA HUNTER

Full Product Details

9780008701314

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Far-reaching, but also intimate and intensely personal in the loves, secrets, betrayals, and losses it examines… a quietly devastating story about lost time and lost futures that will stay with me' FLORENCE KNAPP, bestselling author of The Names ‘An intriguing take on female spies that opens up the clandestine world to generations who feel the Second World War to be distant and perhaps even irrelevant to their lives. The writing is admirably spare, delicately descriptive and alluring in its twists and turns’ SONIA PURNELL, bestselling author of A Woman of No Importance and Kingmaker 'An astonishing page-turner that left me breathless. Inglis Hall masterfully weaves the lives of her characters into the fabric of identity, politics and conflict, desire and deceit, memory and time, in a story that pulses with tenderness and truth. It is a portrait of love in all its forms – between siblings, between comrades, men and women, men and men, between citizens and nations – love that endures beyond rupture and loss. Most of all, it's a powerful act of honouring, with factual gravitas, the real woman abandoned by their country, betrayed by the patriarchy, forgotten by history, and all-too-often romanticised on the page. A tour de force; hard to believe it is a debut. An essential addition to the wartime literature canon' HOLLY DAWSON, author All Of Us Atoms

'Far-reaching, but also intimate and intensely personal in the loves, secrets, betrayals, and losses it examines… a quietly devastating story about lost time and lost futures that will stay with me' FLORENCE KNAPP, bestselling author of The Names ‘An intriguing take on female spies that opens up the clandestine world to generations who feel the Second World War to be distant and perhaps even irrelevant to their lives. The writing is admirably spare, delicately descriptive and alluring in its twists and turns’ SONIA PURNELL, bestselling author of A Woman of No Importance and Kingmaker

Author Information

Lori Inglis Hall was born and raised in Leicestershire, and now lives with her family in East Sussex. THE SHOCK OF THE LIGHT is her first novel. She holds an MA in History and currently works in the archives of World War II photographer Lee Miller.

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