Light Shining in the Forest - Hardcover

Paul Torday

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297867474 ISBN 13: 9780297867470

Publisher: W&N, 2013

Synopsis

'..the best estimate we have shows that every five minutes a child goes missing in the UK'

Norman Stokoe has spent his life climbing the greasy pole. A career civil servant, he knows his way around. He can quote the numbers. He can provide the references. So when the new government decides to appoint regional 'Children's Czars', Norman is an obvious candidate. He settles down in his new leather chair behind his new desk overlooking the River Tyne and waits for the green light to begin his mission. The green light never comes.

What does happen is that two children go missing. Norman has built a career being 'strategic rather than operation' but now, faced with a campaigning journalist and a distraught mother, he is forced to become involved. Meanwhile Geordie Nixon, working deep in the wilderness of Kielder forest is seeing strange things. Are they for real or is he losing his mind? And what place is there in this brave new world for the miraculous?

About this title

Review:

Paul Torday switches water for woodlands in Light Shining in the Forest, a tale of missing minors set in the author's Northumberland home (VOGUE)

A great story, and very dark in places. (ESSENTIALS MAGAZINE)

A well-crafted novel...there is momentum, and there is excitement. (THE SPECTATOR)

(Torday) has blended some excellent social satire and even a dollop of the supernatural...this is an excellent mash-up, well-written, well-crafted and constantly gripping (Harry Ritchie DAILY MAIL)

Tautly written, the tone acid and angry (EVENING STANDARD)

We move from comedy, through pain, to a greater mystery than the mystery with which, on the ordinary level of crime and detection, the author has gripped us. (Allan Massie THE SCOTSMAN)

Torday has a vivid flair for describing... (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY)

(A) disquieting and atmospheric psychological novel. (DAILY EXPRESS)

An unsettling, haunting story...Torday has created some strong characters in this memorable, atmospheric and tense novel...His prose is controlled, elegant and measured and his totally unexpected conclusion is very powerful. (THE LADY)

Torday's exploration of human anguish and pain, interspersed with the dark, haunting rural environment, provides the template, while his biting social comment showcases a writer at the very top of his game. (PRESS ASSOCIATION)

Book Description:

From the author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, a dark tale about a failing politician and the search for two missing children.

About this edition

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0297867474
• ISBN 13: 9780297867470
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352