“Sometimes we’re given an opportunity: to run and hide, or to step into unchartered territory with courage and strength.”

I always love it when a book surprises me. I picked up By The Light of Embers a bit hesitant about whether or not I’d enjoy it, I left it on my TBR pile for a few too many months and when I eventually picked it up, I found myself an engaging, but emotional read.

By The Light of Embers follows Lucia Lafleur, a young woman just accepted into Medicine, who goes home to Louisiana for the summer before ultimately needing to decide her own future; marry her fiancé who doesn’t approve of her career choice, or follow her dreams and defy the conventions of the 1950s. That summer she meets a dark-skinned poet named Nicholas and forms a deep and instant bond – both of whom get caught up in the racial violence of the time.

The book explores the constraints and opportunities of women from the 1950’s through Lucia’s relationships with her mother, her best friend Gretchen and a family friend, Breckin. All four women have had their opportunities challenged in different ways, and in this, we can explore the myriad of ways women were oppressed and steered away from making their own life choices. In contrast, Lucia is positioned as someone who dares to dream beyond the hand that most women around her have been dealt.  I particularly loved the relationship between Lucia and her mother and their seeming very different choices, which they ultimately come to realise are not-so-different after all.

“You’re allowed to want more, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

I’ve been thinking a lot as I was getting ready to write this review about how I’d describe Lucia’s relationship with Nicholas. It’s hard for me to describe it without giving away spoilers, and so I won’t go there too much in this review. Suffice to say that we sometimes find that person who ‘gets’ to the core of who we are, someone that lifts us up rather than tears us down, when we’re least expecting it. They can appear but fleetingly or be someone who stays with us for a long time, and no matter who they are and for how long you know them, it is something to be treasured.

While I’ve been writing drafting this review, the murder of George Floyd happened, and then the protests in the USA and all over the world erupted. I saw a symmetry between the racial violence that follows Nicholas in By The Light of Embers and what is still happening in the world today. I don’t have all the words, except to know its unacceptable that any person with dark skin should go through such systematic and deeply-rooted oppression and racism. For Nicholas and his family, they lived with it daily and it saddens and angers me that in my own reality, many still live with it and fight against it each day.

When I finished By The Light of Embers I had to sit for a while and think over what I’d just read. It’s only the really good books that make me reflective and I need time away before starting the next book. I wasn’t expecting it to happen with By The Light of Embers and for that I’m both pleased to be surprised, and sad that I’ve finished reading. I do think this is a book I’ll revisit one day in the future for a re-read.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.