The blind light : a novel

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Title:

The blind light : a novel

Personal Author:

Evers, Stuart author.

ISBN:

9781324006251

Edition:

First American edition.

Physical Description:

536 pages ; 24 cm

Abstract:

"A multigenerational story about two families living in the shadow of nuclear apocalypse. The year is 1959. Two young soldiers, Drummond and Carter, one working-class, the other privileged, form an intense and unlikely friendship at "Doomtown", a training center that simulates the aftermath of an atomic strike. Years later, the men watch the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold in horror. Carter, now a high-ranking British government official, offers Drummond a way to save himself and his family in the event of a nuclear strike. Their pact, kept secret, will have devastating consequences for the very lives they seek to protect. Spanning decades, from the 1950s to the present, this ambitious, original novel offers a nuanced and absorbing portrait of friendship and rivalry that explores class divisions and the psychological legacy of the nuclear age"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Families -- Fiction.

Soldiers -- Great Britain -- Fiction.

Male friendship -- Fiction.

Nuclear warfare -- Psychological aspects -- Fiction.

Social classes -- Fiction.

Genre:

Domestic fiction.

Historical fiction.

Electronic Access:

Language:

English

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Location
Searching... Central Library	Book	FIC EVER	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Lebanon Junction Branch	Book	FIC EVER	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

England, 1959: two young soldiers--Drummond and Carter--form an intense and unlikely friendship at "Doom Town," a training center that recreates the aftermath of atomic warfare. The experience will haunt them the rest of their lives. Years later, Carter, now a high-ranking government official, offers working-class Drummond a way to protect himself and his wife, Gwen, should a nuclear strike occur. Their pact, kept secret, will have devastating consequences for the families they so wish to shield.

The Blind Light is a grand, ambitious novel that spans decades, from the 1950s to the present. Told from the perspectives of Drum and Gwen, and later their children, Nate and Anneka, the story brilliantly captures the tenderness and envy of long relationships. As the families attempt to reform themselves, the pressures of the past are visited devastatingly on the present, affecting spouses, siblings, and friends.

Stuart Evers writes with literary flair and intellect without ever abandoning the pleasures and emotional intensity of great storytelling. He explores the psychological legacy of nuclear war and social inequality yet finds a delicate beauty in the adventure of making a life in the ruins of the one you lived before.

Author Notes

A former bookseller, Stuart Evers is the award-winning author of Your Father Sends His Love, Ten Stories About Smoking, the acclaimed novel If This Is Home, and, most recently, The Blind Light. He lives in London.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

This engrossing tale from Evers (Your Father Sends His Love) revolves around two men, Drum Moore and Jim Carter, who meet in 1959 at a civil defense base known as Doom Town, where they work on nuclear war simulations. The men's friendship begins during a game of cards and extends over five decades as they each marry and have children. In the 1970s, they arrange to live on adjacent properties and share a bunker in event of nuclear war. Over the course of this long setup in which the families are brought together, Evers explores the lives of Drum's wife, Gwen, and their children, Nate and Anneka. Gwen's ache is palpable on the page as she considers an affair with a writer. Anneka, meanwhile, leaves home in her late teens in 1980, following an incident involving James's son in the bunker, which Drum tries to make her believe was a dream. Later, Nate, now in his 20s, has relationships with men and women. Evers's narrative strategy often asks readers to recalibrate and fill in the gaps--divorces and other pivotal events happen off-page--but the effort is worthwhile. With its slow burn, Evers's vivid, perceptive chronicle of secrets and desperation satisfies. (Oct.)

Booklist Review

Doom Town is the catchy yet grim nickname for a real site in Cumbria, England, used for simulating the aftermath of a nuclear strike. In Evers' (Your Father Sends His Love, 2016) spacious and unusual saga, Drummond "Drum" Moore and Jim Carter run training rescue missions there in 1959 for their National Service, an experience that shakes them deeply and casts a shadow on their families henceforth. Evers excels at depicting the men's strong, identity-shaping bond, which doesn't quite surmount their class differences. Following their military commitments, Drum works at a Ford factory in suburban London and raises two children with wife Gwen, a former barmaid, while the arrogant, posh Carter weds and lives in rural Cheshire. Years later, Carter persuades Drum to take over his neighbor's farm, thus keeping Drum's loved ones secluded and safe, but in doing so, Drum loses sight of other family problems. The novel spans six decades, and the later generation's stories aren't as interesting, but the moody setting, rich in details reflecting social change in Britain, well suits this tale of lives eclipsed by fear.

Library Journal Review

Doom Town, Evers's imagined simulation of the aftermath of a nuclear attack, is both fiction and metaphor. In this novel of steadfast friendship, conscripts become acclimated to human-wrought obliteration. Doom Town is a training ground for British soldiers where Carter, a son of privilege, and Drummond, a child of the working class, become comrades and friends, ultimately inseparable. It is also where their mutual obsession with surviving a nuclear attack begins. Here, nuclear annihilation is a blinding symbol of foreboding, of impending disaster, a theoretical analogy to the unforeseen disasters the two families must actually face. At times, the reader will hear the forlorn echo of Nevil Shute's On the Beach, but Evers (Your Father Sends His Love) unfailingly reminds us that there is hope, always hope, even in the truly moving death scene near the end. The narrative follows Carter, Drummond, and their families over 60 years, during which lives intertwine, children are born, and personalities evolve. VERDICT Unpredictable character arcs will keep readers wondering what will happen next, and the many tragedies and triumphs of each family evoke the same epic feel of generational change as Edna Ferber's Giant.--Michael Russo, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge