Coming to Light

by Elspeth Davie

A story about a group of people who, living and working in the present, look back at the past of their city of Edinburgh. They see luminaries and blackguards, brilliant periods and sombre ones. One young boy in particular feels this play of light and darkness in himself.

191 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 1989

About the author

Elspeth Davie was born in Scotland but spent her earliest years in the south of England. She went to school in Edinburgh and trained at the University and Edinburgh College of Art. She taught painting for some years. Married, with one daughter, she lived for some time in Ireland before returning to Scotland. Her novels include Providings, Creating a Scene and Climbers on a Stair. Her collections of short stories include The Spark and The High Tide Talker.

Davie was awarded the 1978 Katherine Mansfield Prize for Short Stories. Her work was released by the world-famous Calder Publications. She was married to the Scottish philosopher and writer George Elder Davie.

Reviews

[Matthew Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across Elspeth Davie some time ago on Writers No One Reads, although the local library has most of her books on the shelves. Coming To Light is a very earnest treatise about Edinburgh disguised as a story about a sadsacky teen who's a talented but directionless painter. It's a bit of a chore to read, to be honest, though the frequent diversions into, say, the history of Scottish astronomers are at least stylistically intriguing.