Bargain of the day - Bodies of Light

   

    Lots of us are admirers of the work of Sarah Moss, and as her 2014 novel Bodies of Light is one of today's Kindle bargains, I thought I'd repost my thoughts:

    This is a very fine work indeed: tightly controlled and restrained, and all the more powerful for it; elegant, eloquent; founded on careful research, every fact used with skill and precision to make a point - and there are many to be made in this novel which is concise and self-contained but universal in its themes.

    It is the story of Alethea Moberley, sister of May from the historical strand of Night Waking, but it is also an account of the position of women in society in the second half of the 19th. century, of their rights and educational opportunities (or lack of same), of their gradual incursion into the world of medicine*, and of family life and maternal feeling and failings.

    I could go into greater detail regarding the measured plot, the characters who are all seen in relation to Alethea, the clever use of her father's paintings as allegory/commentary, the chilling epigraph which sets the tone ... but suffice to say there is a sequel in the offing, and that is good news on many counts, but chiefly - and simply - because this book is first class.

*See also this post and the book to which it refers.

Comments

[Janet]

Thank you, have just bought this. I enjoyed Night Waking by the same author and this is a good reason to buy another of her titles.

[Cornflower]

Yes, Night Waking is excellent.

[Dorothy]

Having read this post, I went and read the epigraph (Bodies of Light is on my TBR pile) and I agree, chilling.

[Susie Vereker]

Just finished. Much enjoyed and appreciated Bodies of Light.

[Susie Vereker]

Have periodically tried to comment before on Cornflower. Glad yr Typepad is in the mood to accept me today.

[CLM]

I missed Sarah Moss - thanks for the recommendation!