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Points of Light
Just before artist Allie Yates' first New York exhibit, when her husband Sam is on the verge of making their New Hampshire farm a success, one of their three children unexpectedly dies
- GenresFictionContemporary
384 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1989
1 person is currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Linda Gray Sexton
20 books76 followersLinda Gray Sexton was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1953. As the daughter of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Anne Sexton, she grew up in a home filled with books and words and an attention to language, and at an early age she, too, began to write. Afternoons were sometimes spent together with her mother, reading aloud from Anne’s favorite poems.
By the time Linda was an adolescent, she had begun to write poetry and short fiction seriously, and spent many special hours curled up on the sofa in Anne’s study, discussing her own fledgling work as well as her mother’s growing oeuvre. Gradually, Anne began to rely on her daughter’s opinions, and dubbed Linda, “my greatest critic.”
Linda graduated from Harvard in 1975 with a degree in literature, and then continued to live in the Boston area. After the death of her mother, Linda became the literary executor of the estate at twenty-one years old and edited several posthumous books of her mother’s poetry, as well as publishing "Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters."
Concentrating at last fully on fiction, she published her first novel, "Rituals," in 1981; "Mirror Images," "Points of Light" and "Private Acts" followed over a ten year period. Points of Light was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame Special for CBS television and was translated into thirteen languages.
Linda married in 1979, and converted to Judaism before her wedding. She and her husband moved to Manhattan in 1982, when he graduated from the Harvard Business School. In New York
she made a very brief foray into the world of writing soap opera, though throughout she stayed devoted to her love of fiction. But her most important work was raising her two sons, who were born in 1983 and 1984.
Linda left her lifelong home of the east coast in the spring of 1989, and moved her family to Northern California, just in time for the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake. There, while working in a soup kitchen, becoming Bat Mitzvah, and running a Meals on Wheels program for her temple, she finished her first memoir, "Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother," Anne Sexton," which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was optioned by Miramax Films.
Having tea with film director Martin Scorsese in his home and discussing his interest in her book was a high point of Linda’s career as a writer. "Searching for Mercy Street" was reissued by Counterpoint Press in April 2011.
On the West Coast, with a big enough backyard at last, Linda added three Dalmatians to her family—the type of pet she had when she was a child. She developed a passion for showing them in both the breed and obedience rings, and she bred and then whelped four litters of puppies on her own and began to consider herself a "breeder."
She and her new husband, Brad Clink, are avid sailors on the San Francisco Bay and own a sloop named Mercy Street.
Sexton's second memoir, "Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide," is about her struggle with her own mental illness and the legacy of suicide left to her by her mother and her mother’s family. Through the help of family, therapy and medicine, Linda confronted deep-seated issues, outlived her mother and curbed the haunting cycle of suicide she once seemed destined to inherit.
She has finished a new memoir now, one that details her childhood family's life, as well as her own adulthood, as reflected through their relationship with Dalmatians over the years. BESPOTTED: MY FAMILY'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THIRTY-EIGHT DALMATIANS will be published On September 7, 2014 by Counterpoint Press.
She is now at work on a new novel and lives with her Dalmatians Breeze, Cody and Mac in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Mac is the cover model for the photo on the jacket cover of BESPOTTED.
Visit Linda on her website at lindagraysexton.com
By the time Linda was an adolescent, she had begun to write poetry and short fiction seriously, and spent many special hours curled up on the sofa in Anne’s study, discussing her own fledgling work as well as her mother’s growing oeuvre. Gradually, Anne began to rely on her daughter’s opinions, and dubbed Linda, “my greatest critic.”
Linda graduated from Harvard in 1975 with a degree in literature, and then continued to live in the Boston area. After the death of her mother, Linda became the literary executor of the estate at twenty-one years old and edited several posthumous books of her mother’s poetry, as well as publishing "Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters."
Concentrating at last fully on fiction, she published her first novel, "Rituals," in 1981; "Mirror Images," "Points of Light" and "Private Acts" followed over a ten year period. Points of Light was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame Special for CBS television and was translated into thirteen languages.
Linda married in 1979, and converted to Judaism before her wedding. She and her husband moved to Manhattan in 1982, when he graduated from the Harvard Business School. In New York
she made a very brief foray into the world of writing soap opera, though throughout she stayed devoted to her love of fiction. But her most important work was raising her two sons, who were born in 1983 and 1984.
Linda left her lifelong home of the east coast in the spring of 1989, and moved her family to Northern California, just in time for the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake. There, while working in a soup kitchen, becoming Bat Mitzvah, and running a Meals on Wheels program for her temple, she finished her first memoir, "Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother," Anne Sexton," which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was optioned by Miramax Films.
Having tea with film director Martin Scorsese in his home and discussing his interest in her book was a high point of Linda’s career as a writer. "Searching for Mercy Street" was reissued by Counterpoint Press in April 2011.
On the West Coast, with a big enough backyard at last, Linda added three Dalmatians to her family—the type of pet she had when she was a child. She developed a passion for showing them in both the breed and obedience rings, and she bred and then whelped four litters of puppies on her own and began to consider herself a "breeder."
She and her new husband, Brad Clink, are avid sailors on the San Francisco Bay and own a sloop named Mercy Street.
Sexton's second memoir, "Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide," is about her struggle with her own mental illness and the legacy of suicide left to her by her mother and her mother’s family. Through the help of family, therapy and medicine, Linda confronted deep-seated issues, outlived her mother and curbed the haunting cycle of suicide she once seemed destined to inherit.
She has finished a new memoir now, one that details her childhood family's life, as well as her own adulthood, as reflected through their relationship with Dalmatians over the years. BESPOTTED: MY FAMILY'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THIRTY-EIGHT DALMATIANS will be published On September 7, 2014 by Counterpoint Press.
She is now at work on a new novel and lives with her Dalmatians Breeze, Cody and Mac in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Mac is the cover model for the photo on the jacket cover of BESPOTTED.
Visit Linda on her website at lindagraysexton.com
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 13, 2011
I read this book about 18 years ago and the story has stayed with me... it is beautifully written and the story is so tragic I cried like a baby....
February 29, 2016
Points of light by Sexton_ Linda Gray
Woman who lives in NH goes through birth and is an artist. She befriends another woman who moves to the area who is also an artist.
Loved hearing of their work spaces and how she sees things in the children about their life. Family tragedy occurs and it takes her a while to wrap her head around it all.
Like how she interacts with her husband, his dreams of raising horses and selling them, where she sells her paintings to tie them over til the next month. She can't get the image of the children bringing the mail to her...
Enjoyed hearing who they had turned to, to help with the grieving and hearing how others are coping.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Woman who lives in NH goes through birth and is an artist. She befriends another woman who moves to the area who is also an artist.
Loved hearing of their work spaces and how she sees things in the children about their life. Family tragedy occurs and it takes her a while to wrap her head around it all.
Like how she interacts with her husband, his dreams of raising horses and selling them, where she sells her paintings to tie them over til the next month. She can't get the image of the children bringing the mail to her...
Enjoyed hearing who they had turned to, to help with the grieving and hearing how others are coping.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
September 23, 2022
Incredibly moving...still haunts me years later. Big choking outloud sobs, tears streaming down my face.The most emotion I've ever felt from a book; honestly it slayed me!! And I absolutely loved it. One of the favorite reads of my lifetime.
February 9, 2023
I loved this book! I have read several of Linda Gray Sexton’s books. She is a gifted writer. She learned how to write from her mother, the famous poet, Anne Sexton. She learned her craft well! Beautifully written! I highly recommend!
December 6, 2020
This book presented a true depiction of grief in the deepest sense. A thoroughly enjoyable - if tear-jerking - read.
September 17, 2024
This book feels like when you watch "the bridge of Terabitha",a calm before the storm....
Not possible to give a second read,the grief it's a searing pain, it's difficult to comprehend this type of pain,I'm not a parent but I understand it and feel it...it's difficult not knowing of you've done enough or if you done too much,it's difficult for Allie because she tried her best to give the best for his son but in the end the very gesture lead to his death.
The comparison of parenting she received and she gave it's difficult and cannot be judged.
Not possible to give a second read,the grief it's a searing pain, it's difficult to comprehend this type of pain,I'm not a parent but I understand it and feel it...it's difficult not knowing of you've done enough or if you done too much,it's difficult for Allie because she tried her best to give the best for his son but in the end the very gesture lead to his death.
The comparison of parenting she received and she gave it's difficult and cannot be judged.
September 10, 2022
when i read this book, as an 8-year-old child, there were many concepts i simply couldn't get, but i still understood that i was reading a masterpiece.
this summer, i reread it, and only now, have i gotten the deeper, hidden meanings of everything.
the pain and sadness allie & sam go through & their different ways of coping with jamie's death & the ever persisting guilt.
this is a masterpiece which will leave you rethinking.
this summer, i reread it, and only now, have i gotten the deeper, hidden meanings of everything.
the pain and sadness allie & sam go through & their different ways of coping with jamie's death & the ever persisting guilt.
this is a masterpiece which will leave you rethinking.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2010
This is the second time I have read this book. It made more of an impression the first time I read it. It is a story about a mother whose favorite child dies, which causes her to lose touch with reality.
September 20, 2008
Love and family, loss and grief, artistic vulnerability and trust, this book explores the interior of a life with grace, compassion, honesty, and delightful details
Read
March 26, 2010Points of Light: A Novel by Linda Gray Sexton (1988)
July 25, 2010
A weeper, but gotta love a book that makes you weep.
August 26, 2011
3.5 for this story of a woman who loses her two-year old son and withdraws from her husband and two daughters.
September 4, 2013
Awesome. About raising a child, a mother's love for her son who dies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2014
Excellent book, beautifully written, but it really messed me up. I read it MANY years ago and the subject matter broke my heart.
January 17, 2016
Grief in its most raw form. This book and its haunting imagery will stay with me a while.
February 6, 2008
Wonderful book, very well written. Again high on the sob factor. Am I noting a trend?
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews