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Days of Light (Hardback)
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Days of Light (Hardback)

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£18.99
Hardback 288 Pages
Published: 17/04/2025
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Waterstones Says

The author of former Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month The End We Start From delivers a luminous novel that traces the life of one woman through six pivotal days across six decades, from the cusp of the Second World War to the present day.

'She marvels at the way a single day can unravel everything, like ribbon pulled from a present.'

Easter Sunday, 1938. Ivy is nineteen and ready for her life to finally begin. At Cressingdon, her sprawling, bohemian family and their friends gather for lunch and to await the arrival of a longed-for guest. Britain is on the cusp of war, but in the idyllic Sussex countryside anything feels possible.

It is a single, enchanted afternoon that ends in tragedy and will change Ivy’s life forever.

Chronicling six pivotal days across six decades, Days of Light moves through the Second World War and into the twentieth century on a radiant journey through a life lived in pursuit of love and in search of an answer.

Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781529010183
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 392 g
Dimensions: 224 x 145 x 27 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

There’s warmth and depth in Hunter’s well-wrought prose. The characters stay with you in the best way - Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater

A radiant, absorbing novel, intensely alive to the beauty and mystery of the everyday. Megan Hunter has written a thoughtful, sensual novel that, like the work of Graham Swift, shows us how the world can change in a moment and how our daily lives are run through with both the ordinary and the extraordinary. - Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre

Think One Day written by (and starring) Virginia Woolf . . . This is a lyrical and captivating book, dropping decade by decade into a single day in the life of the brilliant, headstrong Ivy - The Observer

Days of Light is sublime. Wielding tremendous emotional power, it is a novel that is both raw and reverent, attuned to the intricacies of loss, desire, hope and how to be in the world. - Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites

Megan Hunter writes with such delicacy about how a single moment can shape and echo through a life. Her sentences are sensory events, open to every texture and shadow. A beautiful book. - Sophie Elmhirst, author of Maurice and Maralyn

Both transcendent and stylish. A classy gem of a novel steeped in rapturous feeling and the cumulative awe and pain of a life deeply lived. - Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

Days of Light is elegant and piercing: the story of a life in six days, with all the epicness and intimacy that a premise like that holds. Hunter depicts Ivy's longing and anguish with painterly precision. - Sarvat Hasin, author of The Giant Dark

Days of Light is a jewel of a novel. Brimming with heart and compassion, a whole life shines through its pages. I am in awe of Megan Hunter's profound grasp of human nature, as she carries us through grief and desire, hope and forgiveness. - Elizabeth Macneal, bestselling author of The Doll Factory

Extraordinary. Beautiful, line by line, moving and absolutely transporting. - Cynan Jones, author of The Long Dry

Intense, emotionally precise and deeply affecting . . . Hunter’s fidelity to ordinary experience, to the richness and pleasures of everyday life, to the texture of memory and desire, make for compelling, revelatory prose. Empathy informs all of Hunter’s novels and Days of Light is further proof of her great capacity for clarity and intelligence about our innermost selves. - Rebecca Birrell, author of This Dark Country

A glittering marvel of a novel, tender, beautiful, and deeply moving. - Stephanie Bishop, author of The Anniversary

Megan Hunter is a writer of liquid, incandescent prose. Days of Light is a singular novel about art and loss, love and violence, God and mystery . . . her best book yet - Jamie Quatro, author of Two-Step Devil

A radiant meditation on time and transformation. Days of Light is a work of rare sensitivity that speaks to the heart of what it means to love, lose and persevere. A stunning, luminous read. - Freya Bromley, author of The Tidal Year

What Megan Hunter does in time and space within the confines of this book is amazing. Days of Light has that quality that all Megan’s books have, restrained but with so much momentum, an exacting turn of phrase and the ability to make the hair on your arms stand up through beauty and also something much darker. - Evie Wyld

An Evening with Megan Hunter

An Evening with Megan Hunter

Cambridge
Thursday 17th April 18:00 - 19:30

Prizewinning novelist Megan Hunter will be discussing her new novel Days of Light – a sweeping, gorgeous story which chronicles six pivotal days across six decades, moving through the Second World War and into the twentieth century on a radiant journey. Book signing to follow.

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Days of Light: Megan Hunter in conversation

Days of Light: Megan Hunter in conversation

London - Islington
Thursday 24th April 18:30

Join us with Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From, as we introduce her third novel, Days of Light: A moving, immersive and radiant journey through a life experienced as six individual days, beginning on the cusp of the Second World War and moving across the twentieth century. It is the story of a search for and experience of love - family love, spiritual love, queer love - and a luminous account of how life can continue to surprise and delight us and, ultimately, offer us hope.

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An Evening with Megan Hunter

An Evening with Megan Hunter

Nottingham
Thursday 1st May 18:30

We are thrilled to welcome Megan Hunter to Waterstones Nottingham to celebrate the release of her new novel, Days of Light.

View

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“A luminous masterpiece destined for the Booker shortlist”

Some novels are read, others are experienced, but Days of Light by Megan Hunter is a rare work that feels as if it has been dreamt. Like sunlight fracturing through glass, its prose illuminates even the darkest... More

Hardback edition
4 similar books recommended
Helpful? Upvote 3

“Interesting idea but weaker execution”

I’m not really sure what to say about this book. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly good either. I think the premise ended up being much better than the execution. The book presents six days in the... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 2

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