Book Review – The Hint of Light by Kristin Kisska *The secrets we bury deepest can hurt the most*

• Genre: Women’s Contemporary Fiction, Book Club, Suspense
• Pages: 288
• Date published: August 2023
• Publisher: Lake Union Publishing, Seattle
• Award: Agatha Award finalist
• Readily available at my library? Yes!
• Spoilers in this review? No; read freely and secure in knowing  you can trust me with secrets. I’ll never blab.

Why I wanted to read it & the format I read it in

I heard about Kristin’s debut novel when she was interviewed by Maggie Smith on one of my favorite book-related podcasts, Hear Us Roar.

Maggie hosts the weekly Women Fiction Writers Association sponsored podcast. She interviews debut novelists about their path to publishing. This is a great way to hear from authors about their personal journey, where there ideas came from, what worked, what didn’t work. There is so much great information that Maggie gleans from her guests.

I purchased a paperback copy of The Hint of Light; I’m finalizing my women’s contemporary novel debut, and I’m intrigued by the idea that everything we do as parents shapes our children. The way they hear us speak about others, the ethics and integrity we live by, and how we respond in difficult situations – these are their first lessons.

I was delighted to discover how much Kristin and I have in common. We’re neighbors in spirit and geography—she’s in Virginia, I’m in Maryland—and both proud, recovering finance geeks. As girls, we each fell in love with reading through the Nancy Drew series, which might explain our shared soft spot for strong female protagonists. We both enjoy horseback riding, getting lost in a good novel, daydreaming about our next vacation, and—of course—writing our own.

Brief summary of the book

Meet Margaret Dobrescu. In the wake of her son’s sudden death, she struggles to keep it together to find peace and acceptance despite grief and guilt.

Within days of Kyle’s funeral, family secrets begin to surface, including a rumor that Kyle may have had a daughter.

The book is narrated by three characters. This is a fabulous book to discuss with your book club cronies. I wished I had read this with others; I have so many thoughts that I wanted to share and get others’ viewpoints on.

Horizontality. How much and how well did the book provide a sense of a particular place, time, community, and/or culture?

The Hint of Light  takes place in Chicago. The book cover is gorgeous: a dark silhouette of a woman walking along the shore of choppy Lake Michigan; the cityscape is in the background, there are thick storm clouds that threaten, but the glimmer of an apricot-hued sunset casts an optimistic spin. The woman stands alone, she’s under the shelter of a tangerine umbrella that matches the sunset.

It spans over 25+ years; the book is a provocateur of considering what was socially acceptable at different periods, stoking empathy to understand the choices we make. We are reminded that while we often see the results of decisions that people make, and we can be quick to judge, we don’t always see the full picture of perhaps the limited resources that were available to form the decision.

The book is told through three points of view; I liked how Kristin identified each chapter with the name of the character that would be narrating, and it was very clever how she used the words “before” and “after” to designate at what point we were regarding Kyle’s life.

Verticality. How deeply did the book go into mining the depths of the human experience?

This book really “spoke” to me.

As a young woman in my VERY early 60s, I have FOMO with regard to maintaining adult female friendships. I envy women that have had friends for years, and they really get one another and show up for each other. I live vicariously through the relationships of others. When one character had an internal monologue questioning if she had a friend or relative that would step up to help her in a particular situation, I thought, “…oh hell yeah, if I was that character, I’d help you in a heartbeat”.

There were a couple scenes that moved me to tears…in a good way.

One character artfully sketches the personality of her subjects. You feel what the subject feels through the detailing of the artist.

Stickiness – how tightly did the book keep me glued to the story?

This is a wonderful escapist-read and a great conversation-starter, to ask others how they would handle a situation and the decisions that they’d make if this was their story.

Literary richness: how well did the written descriptions enhance the story?

Below you get a feel for Kristin’s voice; this is a snippet from the first page of the first chapter, from Kyles’ mom’s point of view:

                    AFTER

                    The first time my son, Kyle, flatlined, I wasn’t with him. Nor his second.

                    “You’ll freeze to death out here.” Martin steps onto our deck and then covers my shoulders with my winter coat. I cringe at my husband’s choice of words.

                    A blast of warmth and lamplight from our kitchen follows him, but I prefer Chicago’s bleak January dawn. Each exhalation crystallizes in the frigid air, muting my view. Honking from rush-hour traffic in the distance echoes against the barren trees. The wind bites my skin, an ironic reminder that I’m alive.

That’s gorgeous writing. THAT is what pulled me into the book and kept me turning pages.

Find out more about Kristin and what she is up to https://www.kristinkisska.com/