How the Light Gets In

A Novel

De: Joyce Maynard

Narrado por: Joyce Maynard

From New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard comes the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her beloved novel Count the Ways—a complex story of three generations of a family and its remarkable, resilient, indomitable matriarch, Eleanor.

Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface.

How the Light Gets In follows Eleanor and her family through fifteen years (2010 to 2024) as their story plays out against a uniquely American backdrop and the events that transform their world (climate change, the January 6th insurrection, school violence) and shape their lives (later-life love, parental alienation, steadfast friendship). With her trademark sensitivity and insight, Joyce Maynard paints an indelible portrait of characters both familiar and new making their way over rough, messy, and treacherous terrain to find their way to what is, for each, a place to call “home.”

©2024 Joyce Maynard (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Perfection!

Until this profoundly beautiful novel, the prequel - Count the Ways - was one of my all time favorite books. It is possible that When the Light Gets In is even better. Joyce Maynard presents an inspirational, yet human, mother in the character of Eleanor. As in Count the Ways, Eleanor is a creative, loving mother with talents ranging from canning tomatoes and making spaghetti Carbonara to writing and illustrating children’s books all while energetically raising her 3 children who are adults in this novel. There is a daughter who is estranged from Eleanor, a son who was brain injured in childhood, and a brilliant and kind transgender son. There is a love affair with a narcissistic climate activist who cannot accept that, at her core, Eleanor is a mother. I was in awe of this mother. Her sweet son, Toby, has a large role in the story. For this I was so grateful as he is a purely good soul. The story is read with perfect sensitivity by the author herself. This usually worries me as such narrations often strike me as inherently arrogant. Not so with Joyce Maynard. She could be a trained narrator of Audible books! My only complaint- and it was somewhat substantial until I was more fully immersed — was the amount of time spent catching the reader/listener up on all that occurred in the prequel. So don’t listen to When the Light Gets In until a period of time has passed since finishing Count the Ways. Eventually, though, I was so in love with this beautiful book and its characters that I wanted it to never end.

Breathtaking

I loved everything about this book: the writing, the story, the timeline including true events, the narration.

Many interesting characters

Though at times I felt the book became a bit repetitive the story always brought me back. There was always a turn or a twist to make me want to keep listening to see what would happen in the life of one or another of the people. The book is long but I do highly recommend it.

Fully developed, touchingly human characters.

In brief, I loved the metaphor of light filtering through the broken places in the lives of most of the characters. Loss, grief, perseverance, quiet contentment, moments of joy: all pieces that somehow cohere. The glue is love. This is truly an uplifting book.

I never miss a Joyce Maynard book!

This was a beautiful story and I agree with others who said that while it is a sequel it could be a stand alone book as well.
I always love her characters and she's a great narrator. She creates people so real that you feel you really know them. I loved it.
There is some political stuff in it but since I agree with everything she said it didn't bother me. However, I'm not sure it's a good idea because most people who read fiction want to get away from the real world. I get it. But I'm not a writer so I don't know.
I adore Joyce Maynard! A huge fan here, thank you!

the will touch your heart.

wonderful...will reread..love this on so many levels.
look forward to giving this to a friend.

Loved this book!

Count the Ways was a fabulous read—but I don’t think you need to read it before this one. Wonderful story and the weaving in of real current events during the story was a plus. Love her books!

Powerful as always

Maynard has this magical way of pulling you into her story and never letting you go. She captures the tiny details of life with absolute perfection! As always she reads her books with a rhythm and cadence that is intimate and engrossing.

Exceeded my expectations!

Loved, loved the narration by the author, Joyce Maynard! Loved the story and how it flowed so beautifully from her previous novel. Read it… you won’t be disappointed.

Layered, deep and rich deeply emotive story of a mother’s love and struggle

The narration was wonderful and the characters were so well developed. One feels that they can sense and understand each character’s experience. The flow of the storyline against the backdrop of America in a specific era of American history was realistic, relatable and engaging.