Broken Light

Starred review from May 15, 2023
This incendiary, brilliantly plotted thriller from Harris (Chocolat) centers on 48-year-old Bernie Ingram’s midlife crisis. As a child, when “magic was as easy as maths,” Bernie honed a supernatural ability to see into the minds of others. Now, facing menopause, she’s been reduced to a minor player in her own life: she’s estranged from her moody husband and her 30-year-old son, and she has no close friends. The brutal murder of a jogger and the public’s response to it (that the woman shouldn’t have been out at night and alone) unleashes Bernie’s long-simmering rage and rekindles the magic she’s lost in adulthood. Kicking the knotty plot into high gear, she embarks on a journey to “over-write Old Bernie and to make of myself something different,” with potentially deadly results. Excerpts from Bernie’s diary alternate with sections from The Class of ’92, a book written by her childhood friend, Kate Hemsworth, which shines gradual light on the scope of Bernie’s traumas and abilities. Bernie’s and Kate’s vibrant voices will keep readers mesmerized right through to the glorious, explosive finale. This is a one-of-a-kind triumph. Agent: John Wood, RCW.

October 1, 2023

Harris's (A Narrow Door) latest timely thriller follows 48-year-old Bernie, who is wearily confronting menopause and feeling unremarkable and overlooked. When a woman jogger is murdered in her neighborhood, however, the public's callous response awakens something within her--a simmering rage, along with long-dormant supernatural powers that she had as a child. Though she had always tried to tamp down her abilities, now she unleashes them with disturbing consequences. Harris sharply comments on society's tendency to give a pass to men's harmful behaviors. At the same time, she deftly weaves inclusion and acceptance into the narrative, demonstrating that current societal norms can harm people of all genders. Narrator Imogen Stubbs creates the perfect voice for Bernie, first depicting her as doleful and hopeless but soon allowing a note of humor and wonder to enter her voice. Listeners will likely cheer for Bernie's escape from the confines of her life but may also feel apprehensive as they wait for the fallout from her tampering. VERDICT A tense, moving narrative centered on feminism, women's rights, and one woman's journey to reclaim herself. Fans of Stephen King's Carrie, which depicts a more destructive but less nuanced rage, will find much to love here.--Matthew Galloway

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