Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Songlight is an extraordinary debut from a renowned screenwriter. A cinematic masterpiece in storytelling, the explosive first book in the Torch Trilogy – the hottest release of the decade!

They are hunting those who shine . . .

Don’t be deceived by Northaven’s prettiness, by its white-wash houses and sea views. Many of its townsfolk are ruthless hunters. They revile those who have developed songlight, the ability to connect telepathically with others. Friends, neighbours, family will turn on each other in an instant. Lark has lived in grave danger ever since her own songlight emerged. Then she encounters a young woman in peril, from a city far away. An extraordinary bond is forged. But when power is everything, how will they survive?

An extraordinary new trilogy from an award-winning, internationally acclaimed screenwriter, Songlight promises to set the world alight!

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Moira Buffini is one of the UK’s leading playwrights and screenwriters. Most recently she wrote the screenplay for The Dig (directed by Simon Stone), which earned her a Bafta nomination, and co-created and showran the Hulu TV series Harlots, which ran for three seasons. Moira’s other film work includes Jane Eyre (directed by Cary Fukanaga) Tamara Drewe (directed by Stephen Frears) and Byzantium (directed by Neil Jordan). She has also written four plays for the National Theatre, including Welcome to Thebes (Writers Guild Award nominee), and Dinner (Olivier nominee), which later transferred to the West End. Her other plays include Handbagged, for which she won an Olivier Award.

We’ve seen it before in the X-Men Franchise, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the Harry Potter series. People with special abilities are often ostracized. The challenge has always been to achieve a balance between the familiar and unique. What sets Songlight apart from these works?

Primarily the ability being explored in the novel.

Songlight is a telepathic ability that helps a small number of people who possess it connect with each other emotionally and perhaps spiritually. Exposing one’s Songlight equates to showing vulnerability- akin to sharing a dark secret. What’s interesting about this ability is it’s inherently good until a person or group of people with bad intention come in close proximity and influence the possessor of the ability. When revealed to possess such ability, a person either gets to establish a strong bond with a fellow possessor, or gets persecuted- or worse, used- by the community.

There are two elements of the novel that fascinate me: categorization and characterization

There are two faction that are put in juxtaposition in the novel: the Insects, and the Birds. On one hand, we have a group of hunters that have a strong resolution to eradicate the world of what they perceive as evil. On the other, we have a group being hunted – they want to have the freedom to exist but they live in hiding.

Brightland, a promising nation at war with Ayland, is hellbent to indoctrinate its citizens of the danger of songlight. The horrors of the Chrysalid House are testament to how Brightland tortures those it labels as unhumans, people who possess this ability. Here’s the thing: chrysalis are meant to nurture insects and not birds. It is no wonder why some prisoners survive as empty shells of their past selves whereas others are forced to hunt in order to survive.

Under the same faction, Fireflies are Brightland’s fighter planes that require the prohibited firefuel to fly. One of my favorite parts in the novel is when Piper flies a plane as part of his training – how it starts as an exercise, how he pushes forward and experiments, how he experiences freedom, how he thinks in the middle of crisis, and how it makes him feel that flying for him is natural.

If in the next installment, there was a faction called Moths or a term for those who couldn’t help but be attracted to Torches but get burned so they wanted to control them, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Lark, Nightingale, Kingfisher, Swan– these are the codenames of those people who possess songlight and for some reason they are named after birds. Birds are free to fly and to make music (songlight, anyone?) unless they are caged. Take this with a grain of salt since the characters Crane, Curlew, Heron, and Redshanks have bird names as well but they don’t possess songlight. It’s important to note that They are good characters in general and resist indoctrination.

Torches are unhumans, who possess songlight so strong, they are able to use astral projections to ‘travel’ and to an extreme, they can control people’s minds.

The Sirens in the novel are Torches who are forced to work for Brightland in luring their fellow Torches. In Greek mythology, sirens have bodies of birds and head of humans. Coincidence? I think not.

We as readers can’t help but root for protagonists, or more recently, anti-heroes – characters who have relatable albeit pronounced flaws. I would have wanted Elsa, the protagonist to do more and be more. Listening to the constant whining about how dreary and how unfair to women a society, paired with inaction and doublemindedness, is exhausting in real life much less in a fictional world where I’m supposed to sympathize with the character. And as a reader who makes clear-cut decisions most of the time, this is where my conflict arises with this character. Her world is already small, her society’s collective mind even smaller as shown by how they believe young girls only serve as wives for warriors- she knows this, but she can only whine. The best of her resistance is shown by her tardiness to choir practice and snappy exchanges with the other pretty girl in town. She wants to leave Northaven but she doesn’t until much later, with people who love her.

Attachment to people is both Elsa’s strength and weakness. She understands the value of feeding a community but at the same time hates the same society she is in. When Rye is being unfairly punished for being an unhuman, she can’t help but follow the rules of Northaven but gnashes her teeth for her helplessness. She picks up the resolve to search for Rye, but she ends up being tied down again, as if Northaven was a gigantic magnet, pulling her. What empowers her is seeing a community that supports people with Songlight and eventually she gains confidence in her ability.

Nightingale, vis-a-vis to Elsa, doesn’t live in a restrictive community but with loving parents. However, it doesn’t mean she has it easy since her father is an Inquisitor- or what they call people who actively search for unhumans to imprison in their Chrysalid House. She lives in hiding everyday. Yet when push comes to shove, she is able to find a way to survive; first is running away, second is using her ability. She might have gotten caught but she still manages to leave her house after a couple of tries. She also shows a mastery of her skill – being able to travel long distances via songlight, and controlling people’s minds. Having Cassandra as a mentor is one crucial element to her survival, unlike Elsa who has not had any training prior to their meeting.

In my not so very humble opinion, the most compelling character is Sister Swan. I can’t help but want to know more how she is going to control the people around her to serve her motives. It’s one of those rare instances when you hate the character one time, then start to love her and understand the reasons for her actions, and come back full circle into hating her. I find that her scenes in the book are the page-turners. That she is a siren came to me as an ‘aha’ moment.

The novel takes advantage of our fascination to be different so no doubt it will be hit. However, the first book gives only but a glimpse of what Songlight is and how powerful it can be. I still have many burning questions in my mind like what happens to Rye, will Piper accept who he really is and serve as a catalyst in the next novel, how will Nightingale help Swan and will Swan finally end Kite’s tyranny. Needless to say, it has left me wanting for more.