Radhika Maira Tabrez

Brilliantly edited, In the light of Darkness, from Readomania, is a book which cries out to be read, right from the first page to the last page [264], where it leaves the readers and the characters glowing with hope. 
The style is refreshingly effortless , the characters deftly delineated; Characters who gravitate towards each other because of the chasms in their hearts and a mutuality of grief; characters who do not appear to be fictitious, but are real life and blood, and you are happy to be sharing their joys and sorrows. 
I loved the comfortable camaraderie between Maanav –Vidushi and Matthew and the bantering bonhomie between Susan and Meera. Delighted to have made their acquaintance. And the fictitious island Bydore with its sea, the sandy , white beach , small coves and hills , went straight to my heart .
The tour de force is Susan’s letter to her estranged son, Matthew which just tore me apart with its heart-rending candor.

“We are never that far gone, in life. Any kind of a turnaround is possible.” This philosophy of Susan succinctly sums up the theme of the novel. To me, the eternal optimist, this book appealed a lot, with its unshackling, recovering, rising , falling and then rising again , phoenix- like , from the ashes of many ugly pasts . And then the final closure –Attraversiamo- sorrow , vacuity , and then acceptance , when diffident smiles slowly gain a surefootedness and faces are eventually suffused with the ‘glow of hope’.

And life prevails.

A book that warms the cockles of the heart [wherever they be!] If you want the cockles of your heart to be warmed, this is the book for you. 
Did someone say it is a debut novel? You got to be kidding!

And yes, the cover is brilliantly - designed too. Stokes the fires of your curiosity, without killing the cat!