A Sudden Light: A Novel

By Garth Stein

Book Overview

The bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain presents a long-awaited new novel in which a boy trying to save his parents' marriage uncovers a vast legacy of family secrets. In the summer of 1990, fourteen-year-old Trevor Riddell gets his first glimpse of Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant whole trees and is set on a huge estate overlooking Seattle's Puget Sound. Trevor's bankrupt parents have begun a trial separation, and his father, Jones Riddell, has brought Trevor to Riddell House with a goal: to join forces with his sister, Serena, dispatch the ailing and elderly Grandpa Samuel to a nursing home, sell off the house and property for development, divide up the profits, and live happily ever after. But as Trevor explores the house's secret stairways and hidden rooms, he discovers a spirit lingering in Riddell House whose agenda is at odds with the family plan. Only Trevor's willingness to face the dark past of his forefathers will reveal the key to his family's future. Spellbinding and atmospheric, A Sudden Light is rich with unconventional characters, scenes of transcendent natural beauty, and unforgettable moments of emotional truth that reflect Garth Stein's outsized capacity for empathy and keen understanding of human motivation--a triumphant work of a master storyteller at the height of his power.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439187037
• ISBN13: 9781439187036
• Release Date: September 2014
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Keep this one on your bookshelf!

What a beautiful and haunting story. The financial wealth of a multi generational family is made recklessly in the northwest timber industry and this apathy towards nature seems to be their undoing. You will love the authors sensitive story telling from the viewpoint of a wise fourteen year old. Beautiful ending. You will want to keep this one on your bookshelf to read again!

Haunting

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. It was a history of Seattle, a love story, complex family relations and haunting all in the same book. It was fabulous!!!