How the Light Gets in - Paperback

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by M. J. Hyland (Author)

A powerful debut from an Australian novelist that features one of the most likeable but contrary figures you are likely to meet in contemporary fiction.

Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. When she is offered an exchange student placement at a school in America it seems as if her dreams will be fulfilled.

Her host family has a beautiful house in Illinois and couldn't be more welcoming . . . until she starts to be distubed by the suffocating and repressed atmosphere of their suburban mansion and things begin to go terribly wrong.

How the Light Gets In is an acutely observed story of adolescence, reminiscent of American Beauty in its dissection of engrained prejudices and middle-class hypocrisy. In Lou Connor, Hyland has created a larger-than-life protagonist who mesmerises the reader with her vivacity and vulnerability, from hopeful beginning to unexpected, haunting end.

Back Jacket

"Heartbreaking and compelling." Observer

Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. When she is offered a place as an exchange student at a school in America it seems as if her dreams will be fulfilled . . .

How the Light Gets In is an acutely observed story of adolescence, shot through with spiky humour. In Lou Connor M.J. Hyland has created a larger-than-life heroine who captivates the reader with her vivacity and vulnerability,
from hopeful beginning to unexpected, haunting end.

"Hyland nails the alternating excitement and embarrassment of being a teenager . . . a writer grappling with serious questions about how we make our way through the world."
New York Times

"An astonishingly well-written slice of reality."
Telegraph

"Hyland excels at atmosphere . . . she brings the long-forgotten teenage sensation of drowning in life's uncomprehended complexities horribly alive."
The Times

"An intriguing and disturbing work which shimmers with edgy brilliance."
Sunday Herald

Author Biography

M.J Hyland is an ex-lawyer and the author of three multi-award-winning novels: How the Light Gets In (2004), Carry Me Down (2006) and This is How (2009). Carry Me Down (2006) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won both the Hawthornden Prize and the Encore Prize. M.J Hyland has twice been longlisted for the Orange Prize (2004 and 2009), the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (2004 and 2007) and This is How (2009) was also longlisted for the Dublin International IMPAC prize.

M.J Hyland is also a lecturer in Creative Writing in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester where she runs fiction workshops, alongside Martin Amis (2007-2010), Colm Toibin (2010-2011) and Jeanette Winterson (2013 - ). M.J Hyland also runs regular Fiction Masterclasses in the Guardian Masterclass Programme, and has twice been shortlisted for the BBC Short Story Prize (2011 and 2012). She also publishes in the Guardian 'How to Write' series, and has written nonfiction for the Financial Times, Granta, the New Yorker and elsewhere. M.J Hyland is also co-founder of the Hyland & Byrne Editing Firm (see - www.editingfirm & www.mjhyland.com). She lives in Manchester.

Number of Pages: 336

Dimensions: 0.9 x 7.7 x 5.1 IN

Publication Date: February 21, 2023