The Language of Light

by Meg Waite Clayton

Book Overview

FINALIST FOR THE BELLWETHER PRIZE Nelly Grace is starting over. With her two young sons, Nelly has fled to the simple stone house built by her great-grandfather in the moneyed horse country of Maryland in order to escape the grief of her husband's death--and perhaps find a way back to her first love: photography. Easing her transition into this strange, mannered world is Emma Crofton, the grand matriarch of the foxhunting community, and Emma's son,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345526643
• ISBN13: 9780345526649
• Release Date: June 2011
• Publisher: Ballantine Group
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Compelling, comfortable, mastery of writing

I read this book when it first came out, and recently found myself picking it up again. I can not say enough wonderful comments about this reading experience. The writing style has you believeing you are sitting there, experiencing life as in the writing, experiencing the rain drops on the windshield, compelling and really did not want the story to end. This is a MUST read.

Haunting and beautifully written

A novel about what it means to find yourself as an artist, as a mother and as a daughter. Nelly's struggles to define herself in the rambling horse country of Maryland (and through photography) were as riveting and as luminous as a photograph shot through with light. I didn't want the novel to end, and found myself reading slower and slower as I approached the final pages. Wonderful!

A Woman's Journey to Artistic Expression

The Language of Light takes us into the world of a widowed mother and aspiring photojournalist in her struggle to answer the disparate callings of parenthood, love, and devotion to her art. Nelly Grace's relationship with her deceased husband haunts her. She loved him deeply, but he seemed to dismiss her photography as merely a hobby. Nelly wrestles with guilt over her passion to pursue her creative impetus. Her children need her. If she follows the calling of the photographer's voice within her, will she follow in the footsteps of her too often absent father? What would allowing herself to become involved with the charming and enigmatic Dac Crofton mean to her art and her life? The Language of Light frames the universal question of self-expression in a tender and compelling narrative about one woman's journey. Finally, it is to herself-a self she is only beginning to know-that Nelly is true.

Beautifully written and thought provoking

A beautifully written, heartwarming story of a young woman coming into her own. At its core, this novel is a thought-provoking exploration of the ways we love one another--daughters and fathers, mothers and sons, husbands and wives--and the misunderstandings, misssteps, and intrigues that can result.

As subtle as its title

I went into this one thinking I would like it, and came out the other end in a state that closely resembled purring. It has a light, lovely feel to it, with a sense of things that matter, delicately drawn.Written with a sure hand, both language and milieu.