And Now the Light is Everywhere: A stunning debut novel of family secrets and redemption

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'A vivid, involving and beautifully written story.' JOSEPH O'CONNOR

'A book that draws you in and holds you till the very end' ANNE GRIFFIN

'Sensitive and accurate . . . A page turner' JAMES ROBERTSON

'An eloquent novel . . . I was captivated' MARGOT LIVESEY

For fans of Ann Patchett, Maggie O'Farrell and Louise Kennedy comes And Now the Light is Everywhere: a breath-taking mystery and a soaring, beautifully written examination of love in all its guises.

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Where does a story end and the truth begin

Argyll, 1998.

Stories run deep in the MacArthur family, passed from generation to generation. Tales not just of selkies and changelings, but of the lives and deaths of the family themselves. Anna MacArthur has heard how her beautiful grandmother Netta boarded a ship for Canada after the war, leaving behind her young son Donnie, and was never seen again.

Now, fifty years after her disappearance, Anna accidentally pulls a loose thread in the story of Netta's fate, causing the tale of her vanishing to unravel completely. As Anna pieces together a far more disquieting version of events, she is also forced to examine her own memories of her father Donnie's death.

Yet the truth is sometimes bent and buried for a reason. And bringing to light what some have concealed for years may not be free of consequences . . .

'Classic story-telling bathed in a generous light . . . it moves so confidently between lives and epochs it easy not to realise at first how cleverly it's put together, how effectively the different stories intersect and echo. It's poignant and funny, and marks Lucy out as an exciting and ambitious writer of real talent.' ANDREW MILLER

Reviews

A vivid, involving and beautifully written story. -- Joseph O'Connor
Classic story-telling bathed in a generous light . . . it moves so confidently between lives and epochs it easy not to realise at first how cleverly it's put together, how effectively the different stories intersect and echo. It's poignant and funny, and marks Lucy out as an exciting and ambitious writer of real talent. -- Andrew Miller
A book that draws you in and holds you till the very end. -- Anne Griffin
And Now the Light is Everywhere is a page-turner, with a clever plot and a range of engaging characters, but there are deeper currents below the surface, carrying questions about time, families and their secrets, trust, betrayal and the nature and importance of storytelling itself. MacRae's writing is sensitive and accurate, rising to passages of brilliance at the right moments. A wonderfully accomplished first novel. -- James Robertson
An eloquent novel. I was captivated by the story telling, the landscape, the brilliant dialogue and the wonderfully vivid characters -- Margot Livesey

Author Bio

L.A. MacRae was born in St Andrews, Scotland. Her first novel And Now The Light Is Everywhere was longlisted for the Caledonian Novel Award 2021. She now lives in the Isle of Skye with her family and animals.