The Light Pirate

On my recent trip to visit my sister in the USA, she recommended a book to me called "The Light Pirate" by Lily Brooks-Dalton. My sister had discovered the book by attending an author event in Books & Books of Key West. Books & Books store founder Judy Blume (yes!!) was in attendance and gave glowing praise for the book, saying she doesn't normally read post apocalyptical novels but that she really enjoyed this book.

So that brings me to the subject matter of the book, which is, in essence, what happens when the power goes out. Specifically in Florida where the central character is based. The protagonist and central character being Wanda who was born in the middle of a hurricane and is named after said hurricane.

As we know Florida has always experienced huge weather events and now sea levels are beginning to rise. Brooks-Dalton writes about a family and how they are torn apart by these weather events and the effect the weather has on all of those who live in the areas that experience the catastrophic weather events. It is not just Florida with hurricanes but California with rising temperatures which leads to fires and other catastrophes. It should be noted that me calling this "weather events" somewhat minimises what is going on, and also possibly casts mankind as victims in these natural occurrences - also they are not just natural events and unfortunately they are our doing with our over reliance and use of non-renewable energy and our abuse of natural resources. Humans through our excessive behaviours have caused climate warming and global changes and these are the results. We are no innocent victims in this scenario.

Ultimately, the book maps out terrifying scenarios where homes and towns are devastated and people lose their loved ones to tragedies and have to move away from everything they know to find safe areas to live. It is a deeply sad story in parts but yet there is some hope. The resilience of humans is shown and that is something that we will always have.

It's a beautifully written story and very gripping. I read it on a Florida beach (how apt!) and with only two chapters to go I had to leave the beach as I had got too much sun. However, I found the book to be unputdownable so I stopped at a small pocket park close to the beach and sat under the shade of a tree in order to finish the book - it's that good!!

Copies have been recently added to dlr Libraries stock with currently a small wait list for this title.