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A Season of Light
For fans of Behold the Dreamers, immigrant stories, and family sagas, a compelling novel about a tightly bound Nigerian family living in Florida and the wounds that get passed down from generation to generation, by the significant new literary voice who wrote the acclaimed Mr. and Mrs. Doctor.
When 276 schoolgirls are abducted from their school in Nigeria, Fidelis Ewerike, a Florida-based barrister, poet, and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War, begins to go mad, consumed by memories of his younger sister Ugochi, who went missing during that conflict. Consumed by survivor’s guilt and fearful that the same fate awaits Amara, his sixteen-year-old daughter who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ugochi, Fidelis locks her in her bedroom, offering no words of explanation, only lovingly—if poorly—made meals and sweets.
Amid that singular action, the Ewerike family spirals into After unsuccessful attempts to free her daughter from her room, his wife Adaobi seeks the counsel of a preacher, praying for spiritual liberation from the curse she is certain has plagued her family since leaving Nigeria. Fourteen-year-old Chuk, beset by his own war with the neighborhood boys, receives a painful education on force, masculinity, and his tenuous position within his family. And rebellious, resentful Amara is hungry for her life to be hers, so the moment she is able to escape her imprisonment, she falls in love—not with the Aba-born engineer-in-training her mother envisages, but with Maksym Kostyk, the son of the town drunk. Before long, the two have concocted a plan to run away from the trappings of their familial traumas.
Perfect for readers of Sing, Unburied, Sing, Julie Iromuanya's A Season of Light is an all-consuming masterpiece. To peer into the window of the Ewerike family’s lives is a gift.
When 276 schoolgirls are abducted from their school in Nigeria, Fidelis Ewerike, a Florida-based barrister, poet, and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War, begins to go mad, consumed by memories of his younger sister Ugochi, who went missing during that conflict. Consumed by survivor’s guilt and fearful that the same fate awaits Amara, his sixteen-year-old daughter who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ugochi, Fidelis locks her in her bedroom, offering no words of explanation, only lovingly—if poorly—made meals and sweets.
Amid that singular action, the Ewerike family spirals into After unsuccessful attempts to free her daughter from her room, his wife Adaobi seeks the counsel of a preacher, praying for spiritual liberation from the curse she is certain has plagued her family since leaving Nigeria. Fourteen-year-old Chuk, beset by his own war with the neighborhood boys, receives a painful education on force, masculinity, and his tenuous position within his family. And rebellious, resentful Amara is hungry for her life to be hers, so the moment she is able to escape her imprisonment, she falls in love—not with the Aba-born engineer-in-training her mother envisages, but with Maksym Kostyk, the son of the town drunk. Before long, the two have concocted a plan to run away from the trappings of their familial traumas.
Perfect for readers of Sing, Unburied, Sing, Julie Iromuanya's A Season of Light is an all-consuming masterpiece. To peer into the window of the Ewerike family’s lives is a gift.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 4, 2025
51 people are currently reading
4556 people want to read
About the author
Julie Iromuanya
2 books57 followersJulie Iromuanya is a writer, scholar, and educator. Born and raised in the American Midwest, she is the daughter of Igbo Nigerian immigrants. Her creative writing has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Passages North, the Cream City Review, and the Tampa Review, among other journals. Her scholarly-critical work most recently appears in Converging Identities: Blackness in the Modern Diaspora (Carolina Academic Press).
She has been shortlisted for several prizes, including the Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest, the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction and Family Matters contests, the Rona Jaffe Foundation fellowship, and the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship.
Iromuanya earned her B.A. at the University of Central Florida, and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she was a Presidential Fellow and award-winning teacher.
She was the inaugural Herbert W. Martin Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton. She has also been a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
Iromuanya is Assistant Professor of English and African and African American Studies and will be joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in the fall.
Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is her first novel.
She has been shortlisted for several prizes, including the Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest, the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction and Family Matters contests, the Rona Jaffe Foundation fellowship, and the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship.
Iromuanya earned her B.A. at the University of Central Florida, and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she was a Presidential Fellow and award-winning teacher.
She was the inaugural Herbert W. Martin Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton. She has also been a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
Iromuanya is Assistant Professor of English and African and African American Studies and will be joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in the fall.
Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
February 12, 2025
3.5⭐
”The world went on in spite of its prisoners.”
Set in 2014, Florida A Season of Light by Julie Iromuanya revolves around the Ewirike family: Nigerian immigrant Fidelis- a barrister and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War and his wife Adaobi, an educator and their children sixteen-year-old daughter Amarachi, “Amara” and fourteen-year-old son Chukwudiegwu “Chuk".
News of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in Borno State, Nigeria, triggers a traumatic response in Fidelis, taking him back to the year he spent fighting the Civil War in Nigeria and the tragedy that befell his family and the disappearance of his younger sister Ugochi. His sense of past and present blurred, concern for his daughter’s safety prompts Fidelis to lock Amara, who bears a strong resemblance to Ugochi, in her room keeping her from leaving the house. Though he makes a point of attending to her needs, he offers no explanation or justification for his actions. We follow the family members as they try to cope with Fidelis’s increasingly erratic behavior while struggling with their own trauma.
“War had wounded his flesh and a prison had wounded his psyche. Anything more would be an assassination.”
With its fascinating premise and well-defined characters and touching upon themes of war, PTSD, generational trauma, mental health, family dynamics, immigration and assimilation and much more, A Season of Light by Julie Iromuanya is a thought-provoking novel. The narrative, shared from multiple perspectives follows the family members as they try to make sense of their reality and the shifting dynamics within the family. Past events are mostly shared through recollections from Fidelis or Adaobi’s perspective. The author deftly incorporates a few elements of Nigerian tradition, belief and history into the narrative and has done a commendable job of describing the reactions of the children, who were unaware of the family history and the events that trigger Fidelis as well as Adaobi who shares much of Fidelis’s trauma, and her efforts to balance her husband's needs while trying to do the best for her children. Of all the characters, I was most drawn to Adaobi, though I did question a few of her decisions. I also appreciated getting to know Amara, who struggles to find a voice under the weight of expectations within a strongly misogynistic family framework. The character of Chuk, bullied by his peers yet trying to conform to his father's expectations as the son of the family, could have been explored in more depth.
Despite the strong premise and interesting characters, the narrative lacks cohesiveness and as the story progresses, the introduction of certain subplots -relatively inconsequential details and storylines - slows down the pace of the story and distracts from the central themes of the novel. As the different threads of the story converge toward the end ( which I felt was a tad rushed following a relatively slower build-up), the narrative not only becomes a tad disjointed and lacks in emotional depth, but also leaves certain aspects of the novel unexplored. Had the past timeline been described in more depth, this would have rendered the novel a more well- rounded, intense and affecting read.
This novel certainly has potential and though there is a lot about the writing that that is praiseworthy, overall, it does fall short in its execution.
“They had all been through too much. The world could never understand. Their children would never understand. No one could ever understand the choices they had made, even the ones for which they might never atone. War is a cruel wit.”
Many thanks to Algonquin Books for the digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
”The world went on in spite of its prisoners.”
Set in 2014, Florida A Season of Light by Julie Iromuanya revolves around the Ewirike family: Nigerian immigrant Fidelis- a barrister and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War and his wife Adaobi, an educator and their children sixteen-year-old daughter Amarachi, “Amara” and fourteen-year-old son Chukwudiegwu “Chuk".
News of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in Borno State, Nigeria, triggers a traumatic response in Fidelis, taking him back to the year he spent fighting the Civil War in Nigeria and the tragedy that befell his family and the disappearance of his younger sister Ugochi. His sense of past and present blurred, concern for his daughter’s safety prompts Fidelis to lock Amara, who bears a strong resemblance to Ugochi, in her room keeping her from leaving the house. Though he makes a point of attending to her needs, he offers no explanation or justification for his actions. We follow the family members as they try to cope with Fidelis’s increasingly erratic behavior while struggling with their own trauma.
“War had wounded his flesh and a prison had wounded his psyche. Anything more would be an assassination.”
With its fascinating premise and well-defined characters and touching upon themes of war, PTSD, generational trauma, mental health, family dynamics, immigration and assimilation and much more, A Season of Light by Julie Iromuanya is a thought-provoking novel. The narrative, shared from multiple perspectives follows the family members as they try to make sense of their reality and the shifting dynamics within the family. Past events are mostly shared through recollections from Fidelis or Adaobi’s perspective. The author deftly incorporates a few elements of Nigerian tradition, belief and history into the narrative and has done a commendable job of describing the reactions of the children, who were unaware of the family history and the events that trigger Fidelis as well as Adaobi who shares much of Fidelis’s trauma, and her efforts to balance her husband's needs while trying to do the best for her children. Of all the characters, I was most drawn to Adaobi, though I did question a few of her decisions. I also appreciated getting to know Amara, who struggles to find a voice under the weight of expectations within a strongly misogynistic family framework. The character of Chuk, bullied by his peers yet trying to conform to his father's expectations as the son of the family, could have been explored in more depth.
Despite the strong premise and interesting characters, the narrative lacks cohesiveness and as the story progresses, the introduction of certain subplots -relatively inconsequential details and storylines - slows down the pace of the story and distracts from the central themes of the novel. As the different threads of the story converge toward the end ( which I felt was a tad rushed following a relatively slower build-up), the narrative not only becomes a tad disjointed and lacks in emotional depth, but also leaves certain aspects of the novel unexplored. Had the past timeline been described in more depth, this would have rendered the novel a more well- rounded, intense and affecting read.
This novel certainly has potential and though there is a lot about the writing that that is praiseworthy, overall, it does fall short in its execution.
“They had all been through too much. The world could never understand. Their children would never understand. No one could ever understand the choices they had made, even the ones for which they might never atone. War is a cruel wit.”
Many thanks to Algonquin Books for the digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
November 3, 2025
Little to no plot. Not a lot going on but also a lot going on.....
February 16, 2025
This story thrives in spotlighting Amara and Chuk’s devotion to each other, but everything else felt half-baked. Rarely do I wish a book were longer, as I believe being concise is key an engaging story, but in this case, the story felt rushed and incomplete. Prose felt robotic and lacked intimacy for a tale about generational trauma, PTSD, familial bonds and romantic love.
January 13, 2025
This book has a fascinating premise, but the execution is a bit of a letdown. A Nigerian family has settled in Orlando, but when over two hundred schoolgirls in Nigeria are kidnapped by terrorists, the patriarch of the family, Fidelis, experiences a PTSD resurgence-he fought in the Nigerian Civil War-and locks his 16-year-old daughter, Amara, in her bedroom indefinitely. Fidelis' younger sister, Ugochi, went missing during the civil war and was never found, and Fidelis believes history is repeating itself and he must protect his daughter.
This book has a lot of interesting and impactful things to say about generational trauma, cultural displacement, the insane, illogical, and interlocking systems of misogyny that impact both daughters and sons, and classism and racism and their reverberating effects. The family dynamics feel real and lived-in, and the characters are vivid. But this book just had way too many side-plots going on, and the emotional resolution wasn't there.
Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books/Algonquin Young Readers for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!
This book has a lot of interesting and impactful things to say about generational trauma, cultural displacement, the insane, illogical, and interlocking systems of misogyny that impact both daughters and sons, and classism and racism and their reverberating effects. The family dynamics feel real and lived-in, and the characters are vivid. But this book just had way too many side-plots going on, and the emotional resolution wasn't there.
Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books/Algonquin Young Readers for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!
February 17, 2025
I really hate to quit on books but I had to do myself a favor and quit this one at 25%. It was just so boring!
February 13, 2025
The idea of this story was really interesting to me but I did not like the writing style or the execution of the book.
Unfortunately this was not for me
Unfortunately this was not for me
May 3, 2025
Okay, this was a very short book, but it felt like it was never going to end. I am being generous with giving this two stars and the only reason it’s not one star is because I have respect for the idea behind this book and what the author was trying to do. I really wanted to like this book, because it SOUNDED like it was going to be good, but the execution of the plot was very disjointed and left me not caring at all. Books about generational trauma are usually my favorite, but this was just so, so boring. The characters were more like stereotypical caricatures, and that really depressed me. The mom went through this really awkward and let’s be real, WEIRD spiritual experience with some freak charlatan preacher. Honestly I could list the whole plot here and wouldn’t “spoil” anything because pretty much nothing happened the whole book. But it’s literally so boring, you wouldn’t read the rest of the review anyway. Skip it, dude.
February 20, 2025
I received this book as one of my monthly selections for Book of the Month Club for February 2025. I felt that the description that the app offered for the book was pretty accurate; highbrow literary fiction about family drama, war, and loss.
I think that I’m among some other reviewers in saying that the book did feel somewhat hurried. From point A to point B in certain storylines was very quick, and the book truly would have benefited from a slightly slower pace. I think that the storyline of the mother’s spiritual evolution was a somewhat one-off mention that could have really been elaborated on.
I thought the way that the character of the father, Fidelis, as the central character who’s trauma moves the narrative along, was a very artfully written character. The balance of wistfulness, trauma, mental illness, care for his family, and confused identity. The choices that he makes trying to protect his daughter (and, by extension, the memories of his sister) are often baffling, often seemingly inexcusable. At the same time, the author imbues him with such tenderness and humanity, such an empathetic hand. His love for his family, his sensitivity and poetic soul make him easy to have a soft spot for.
I think that this book is heartfelt, ambitious, and a hard description of a life defined by violence. However the execution was somewhat inconsistent and that some of the elements could have really been improved with more elaboration.
3/5 stars with the reservation that I did really enjoy the things that were executed in a detailed way.
I think that I’m among some other reviewers in saying that the book did feel somewhat hurried. From point A to point B in certain storylines was very quick, and the book truly would have benefited from a slightly slower pace. I think that the storyline of the mother’s spiritual evolution was a somewhat one-off mention that could have really been elaborated on.
I thought the way that the character of the father, Fidelis, as the central character who’s trauma moves the narrative along, was a very artfully written character. The balance of wistfulness, trauma, mental illness, care for his family, and confused identity. The choices that he makes trying to protect his daughter (and, by extension, the memories of his sister) are often baffling, often seemingly inexcusable. At the same time, the author imbues him with such tenderness and humanity, such an empathetic hand. His love for his family, his sensitivity and poetic soul make him easy to have a soft spot for.
I think that this book is heartfelt, ambitious, and a hard description of a life defined by violence. However the execution was somewhat inconsistent and that some of the elements could have really been improved with more elaboration.
3/5 stars with the reservation that I did really enjoy the things that were executed in a detailed way.
December 26, 2024
Solid multigenerational family story with war and immigration. The characters are thoroughly developed and a very good read. I loved the story overall.
Thank you Algonquin & Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book.
Thank you Algonquin & Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book.
May 21, 2025
Julie is the best! I'm biased because she taught me, but there were several moments of this book I was just left in awe that I knew this person, that people who live and breathe can write beautifully.
February 8, 2025
A tragic tale of a Nigerian immigrant family welding to their community in Florida.
Damaged from an upbringing surrounded by war and terror, the parents in this story have both their past and their struggles in America to conquer. On top of that, they’re raising a teenage girl and boy while healing and working through their personal difficulties.
It sounds like a detrimental pot because it is. Fear takes over the head of household and his decisions are living in that fear with no one else in the family able to control the outcomes easily. This greatly affects everyone, especially the daughter. She receives terrible treatment meanwhile the mother feels helpless and is seeking peace and understanding at any cost.
I don’t really think there’s any happy ending or even resolve to this story, however, it mirrors so many times in our lives when we struggle and don’t always know how to pick up the pieces or if what we’re doing is right or if it’s best.
In that regard I appreciate this thought provoking reflection of human error and desperation when trying to protect and take responsibility for family.
Damaged from an upbringing surrounded by war and terror, the parents in this story have both their past and their struggles in America to conquer. On top of that, they’re raising a teenage girl and boy while healing and working through their personal difficulties.
It sounds like a detrimental pot because it is. Fear takes over the head of household and his decisions are living in that fear with no one else in the family able to control the outcomes easily. This greatly affects everyone, especially the daughter. She receives terrible treatment meanwhile the mother feels helpless and is seeking peace and understanding at any cost.
I don’t really think there’s any happy ending or even resolve to this story, however, it mirrors so many times in our lives when we struggle and don’t always know how to pick up the pieces or if what we’re doing is right or if it’s best.
In that regard I appreciate this thought provoking reflection of human error and desperation when trying to protect and take responsibility for family.
February 17, 2025
3.5/5 Audiobook/Narration
2.5/5 Overall
I don’t want to harp too much on what other reviewers have already said. For me, this book was overall just okay. One thing I definitely want to highlight is that I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook while also checking out the e-book on Libby, and I am so glad I did. I really loved the dual narration, and I think the narrators did a great job with what they were given. However, I don’t think this is a book I could have finished by just listening to the audiobook or only reading the physical copy. Having an immersive reading experience helped significantly, as there were many parts that felt disjointed. The audiobook smoothed over certain sections and captured the emotional range of the story, which helped enhance the reading experience. However, if I had relied solely on the audiobook, I think it would have been difficult to follow the story completely, as there are many different branches on this tree.
The book contains several side plots that don’t ever feel fully resolved, but at the forefront is a really interesting conversation about generational trauma. It dives into misogyny and the ideals that can be passed down through fear, trauma, grief, and regret. I appreciated the multiple perspectives, showcasing the different ways each character is affected by their past and their family’s history. We see a father’s fears guiding his decisions—what he considers protecting his daughter is actually capturing and holding her hostage, while also making those around him complicit in doing so. At the same time, he strips his son of his youth, using his own fear to manipulate his son into policing his sister.
This book presents a layered exploration of the dangerous effects of bearing the weight of a family member’s pain. While I appreciate what the story was trying to tell, the execution wasn’t quite there for me. The narration was excellent—capturing emotional range, different voices, tones, and accents—but structurally, the story needed more cohesion.
I’m thankful to Netgalley & Hachette Audio for this ALC.
2.5/5 Overall
I don’t want to harp too much on what other reviewers have already said. For me, this book was overall just okay. One thing I definitely want to highlight is that I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook while also checking out the e-book on Libby, and I am so glad I did. I really loved the dual narration, and I think the narrators did a great job with what they were given. However, I don’t think this is a book I could have finished by just listening to the audiobook or only reading the physical copy. Having an immersive reading experience helped significantly, as there were many parts that felt disjointed. The audiobook smoothed over certain sections and captured the emotional range of the story, which helped enhance the reading experience. However, if I had relied solely on the audiobook, I think it would have been difficult to follow the story completely, as there are many different branches on this tree.
The book contains several side plots that don’t ever feel fully resolved, but at the forefront is a really interesting conversation about generational trauma. It dives into misogyny and the ideals that can be passed down through fear, trauma, grief, and regret. I appreciated the multiple perspectives, showcasing the different ways each character is affected by their past and their family’s history. We see a father’s fears guiding his decisions—what he considers protecting his daughter is actually capturing and holding her hostage, while also making those around him complicit in doing so. At the same time, he strips his son of his youth, using his own fear to manipulate his son into policing his sister.
This book presents a layered exploration of the dangerous effects of bearing the weight of a family member’s pain. While I appreciate what the story was trying to tell, the execution wasn’t quite there for me. The narration was excellent—capturing emotional range, different voices, tones, and accents—but structurally, the story needed more cohesion.
I’m thankful to Netgalley & Hachette Audio for this ALC.
February 22, 2025
When two hundred and seventy six girls are abducted from a school in Nigeria, Fidelis Ewerke, a Nigerian former POW and laywer living in Florida, goes a little mad. He relives the pain of losing his younger sister Ugochi, who went missing during the Nigerian Civil War, and becomes terrified for his sixteen-year-old daughter Amara. With no explanation and for no particular action on her part, he locks her in her room.
His wife Adaobi convinces Amara, who looks remarkably like Ugochi, to bide her time while Adaobi worked on changing Fidelis' mind about her captivity. Amara's younger brother Chuk, bullied by the neighbourhood boys, does not understand what is going on, but unfortunately accepts his mother's words that Amara did a bad thing, and even supports his father by maintaining a vigil at Amara's door, refusing to let her out. Meanwhile, Adaobi becomes enamoured of a local fiery priest.
Amara spends her days watching the neighbours, including a sixteen-year-old boy whose alcoholic father makes his days miserable. Occasionally, Amara, resentful and angry, escapes and gets to know Maksym Kostyk, then, quietly returns to her locked room. Amara and Maksym begin planning their escape from their messed up families.
This was a story of a family spiralling in on itself and out of control due to the patriarch's trauma and grief. Fidelis' unexamined pain explodes all over his family, and we get each family member's, including his, perspective of what is happening within the house and within them in reaction Amara's imprisonment.
The story was interesting, and kept me engaged, despite the occasional narrative thread that either felt tangential or not fully realized. I was also a little surprised by how quickly the novel wrapped up, but, was glad that Amara did come out stronger and more certain of who she was after the terrible betrayal by her father.
I went back and froth between the text and the audio for this story, and greatly enjoyed the narration by Yinka Ladeinde and Leo Anifowose. They each brought the characters to life wonderfully; I loved how Yinka's interpreted Amara and Adaobi, while Leo's work brought the difficult Fidelis to life.
Thank you to Netgalley, Algonquin Books and to Hachette Audio for these ARCs in exchange for my review.
His wife Adaobi convinces Amara, who looks remarkably like Ugochi, to bide her time while Adaobi worked on changing Fidelis' mind about her captivity. Amara's younger brother Chuk, bullied by the neighbourhood boys, does not understand what is going on, but unfortunately accepts his mother's words that Amara did a bad thing, and even supports his father by maintaining a vigil at Amara's door, refusing to let her out. Meanwhile, Adaobi becomes enamoured of a local fiery priest.
Amara spends her days watching the neighbours, including a sixteen-year-old boy whose alcoholic father makes his days miserable. Occasionally, Amara, resentful and angry, escapes and gets to know Maksym Kostyk, then, quietly returns to her locked room. Amara and Maksym begin planning their escape from their messed up families.
This was a story of a family spiralling in on itself and out of control due to the patriarch's trauma and grief. Fidelis' unexamined pain explodes all over his family, and we get each family member's, including his, perspective of what is happening within the house and within them in reaction Amara's imprisonment.
The story was interesting, and kept me engaged, despite the occasional narrative thread that either felt tangential or not fully realized. I was also a little surprised by how quickly the novel wrapped up, but, was glad that Amara did come out stronger and more certain of who she was after the terrible betrayal by her father.
I went back and froth between the text and the audio for this story, and greatly enjoyed the narration by Yinka Ladeinde and Leo Anifowose. They each brought the characters to life wonderfully; I loved how Yinka's interpreted Amara and Adaobi, while Leo's work brought the difficult Fidelis to life.
Thank you to Netgalley, Algonquin Books and to Hachette Audio for these ARCs in exchange for my review.
February 24, 2025
This was a really interesting story about family dynamics and the lasting effects of childhood trauma on those closest you. I feel like I can't even fully appreciate the nuances in this book as someone who is so distant from these realities. So maybe that's why this book wasn't really for me. It got into the main action really quickly, and then I was left wondering where the story would go from there. The switching perspectives going back and forth through time and reliving periods of time through multiple people was really confusing and hard to follow, and I found myself lost more than once. The writing is sophisticated and elegant, the messages deep, but while Amara and Fidelis's characters were thoroughly examined, I felt like it didn't know as much about Chuk or Adaobi. And I felt like it switched very abruptly between the messages that the parents loved each other or didn't, but maybe I was missing something there. Maybe the differences in characterization was on purpose, as the story was more focused on father and daughter. It highlighted the complex relationships in families and how different people deal with struggle and conflict, and was pretty short. Overall it was a good book, and I can't think of many legitimate criticisms so I'll round 3.5 up.
March 15, 2025
I’m glad that I decided to eventually pick up the audio version as I found it was more digestible listening and following along. I really enjoyed the writing style, and there were some quotable passages that stuck with me and made me think about certain themes happening in the book. However with that being said I think that there was just too many storylines and things happening for 250ish pages. Many times I was left wondering what was going on, as well as confused about the end resolving of conflicts. Time passing was also unclear, I kept wondering how long Amara was locked away, which maybe was intentional?
This book deserves a reread maybe after I’ve sat with it for a few years. It brings the struggles of an immigrant family dealing with leaving their war torn country and generational trauma. It lead me to do more research on the Chibok schoolgirl kidnappings and I think having that background knowledge will enhance the reading experience making it easier to connect with and feel sympathy for the characters.
This book deserves a reread maybe after I’ve sat with it for a few years. It brings the struggles of an immigrant family dealing with leaving their war torn country and generational trauma. It lead me to do more research on the Chibok schoolgirl kidnappings and I think having that background knowledge will enhance the reading experience making it easier to connect with and feel sympathy for the characters.
April 8, 2025
3.5 stars. honesty this book took me a little long to read, but its most likely due to life being hectic and me not being in the correct headspace to read it at some points. but regardless is was a good book. the characters were written very well, in that as the story went on i felt like i understood them more and more, but also they became so much more complex. it touches well on some very heavy topics and how past trauma stays with you throughout your whole life and affects your actions.
it was very poetic and had a lot of really good lines, but there were some moments where i thought the language was a tad bit overdone. but i could be a bit dumb when it comes to english so.
otherwise im glad i read this, it took me a minute to get into, and i wish it was a bit more hooking, but overall decent experience. also i do think it was more enjoyable to listen to the audiobook
it was very poetic and had a lot of really good lines, but there were some moments where i thought the language was a tad bit overdone. but i could be a bit dumb when it comes to english so.
otherwise im glad i read this, it took me a minute to get into, and i wish it was a bit more hooking, but overall decent experience. also i do think it was more enjoyable to listen to the audiobook
March 4, 2025
There was so much potential here, and a great deal of solid character study. But it fell apart at several points and so the strengths (particularly its portraits of Chuk and Amara as they struggled with the way the grown-ups in the family fell apart due to buried trauma) didn't quite make it hang together as a story I was sold on. I think one of the places it lost me was the way the family fell apart prior to their relocation to a less classy neighborhood, which preceded by months the father's locking away of his daughter, keeping her captive to the thing which had propelled his mental breakdown. I also struggled with the portrayal of the preacher and his flock. That seemed almost fantastical and worked against the family story from my perspective.
February 7, 2025
An “unending eve” has tormented Fidelis and his wife, Adaobi, since the days of the Nigerian Civil War. In my first @bookofthemonth pick of the year, the Ewerikes are languishing in the sh!thole that is Econlockhatchee, Florida, when they learn of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in April 2014. Fidelis, who lost his sister in 1969, spurs into action and locks his sixteen-year-old daughter, Amara, in her room. Amara, who was looking forward to skipping the school dance to meet her friends at the beach and shoot some Vines, is suddenly a prisoner in her own home. When an evening of brute force fails to compel her husband to release her daughter, Adaobi decides that she must be patient. This “small-small mess” of her husband’s descent into lunacy is but a temporary matter and all will be normal once again.
Two months pass and Amara has only the ghost of her aunt as company. The world continued without her but at least she is safe??? Meanwhile, her younger brother, Chuk, is now Keeper of the Abode, the “Biden to his father’s Obama”, and he does not know why his sister is locked up but will steadfastly follow his father’s commands. Fidelis and Adaobi, though, have all but abandoned the household; one is still chasing the dream of an independent Biafra and reunion with his missing sibling, the other has returned to a long-lost faith in hopes it will restore her family. But fear not! The title implies that #ASEASONOFLIGHT is imminent. And while I found the ending at once neatly resolved yet leaving nothing addressed lol, this #bookofthemonth pick does acknowledge the difficult work of confronting the past to rebuild the present. It’s a solid generational drama to start the year off with.
Two months pass and Amara has only the ghost of her aunt as company. The world continued without her but at least she is safe??? Meanwhile, her younger brother, Chuk, is now Keeper of the Abode, the “Biden to his father’s Obama”, and he does not know why his sister is locked up but will steadfastly follow his father’s commands. Fidelis and Adaobi, though, have all but abandoned the household; one is still chasing the dream of an independent Biafra and reunion with his missing sibling, the other has returned to a long-lost faith in hopes it will restore her family. But fear not! The title implies that #ASEASONOFLIGHT is imminent. And while I found the ending at once neatly resolved yet leaving nothing addressed lol, this #bookofthemonth pick does acknowledge the difficult work of confronting the past to rebuild the present. It’s a solid generational drama to start the year off with.
February 22, 2025
I'm not sure what it was about this book but I couldn't get attached to the characters. I think it might have been a bit too surreal for me. No one really felt grounded to reality and sometimes that really works for me but for some reason it didn't here.
I still gave it 3 stars because I thought it was a really interesting take on PTSD. I think there are a lot of good and important things in this book.
I still gave it 3 stars because I thought it was a really interesting take on PTSD. I think there are a lot of good and important things in this book.
February 27, 2025
Loved the prose. Meaningful premise of generational trauma. I was completely engaged with the story u til about halfway when too many threads, an odd introduction of an albino priest and some “wandering “ detracted from the main story.
February 12, 2025
A Season of Light by Julie Iromuaya focuses on a very messy family. Agatha Adaobi and Fidelis survived war in their homeland, but not without scars. Decades later, as they are raising their family in the suburbs of Orlando, a tragedy abroad brings those scars to life. The father locks his daughter away to protect her from the world. He trains his son to guard her door. The wife loses herself in a battle between love and hate. She eventually finds peace in a religious group. I enjoyed a few things about this book. I enjoyed the mentions of places I know and experiences I have had living in Florida. I was unsettled (in the way you are supposed to be) by the fathers actions and bordering insanity as he traps his daughter away for simply being female. It displayed untreated PTSD through a cultural lense that I would have never been exposed to otherwise. That being said, A Season of Light was overall unfulfilling with too many plots and no true resolution.
February 19, 2025
I could not follow this book at all. Had to DNF
February 21, 2025
It was different from my normal and challenged me. I found the disfunction relatable. I enjoyed the insights into a culture unknown to me. Definitely an interesting, thought provoking read.
June 10, 2025
It felt like this book was in a tug of war with itself. Very confusing.
September 6, 2025
Probably on me for this one but I simply did not get it
March 27, 2025
i wanted to like it more. may be that i read via audiobook.
February 4, 2025
I enjoy immigrant stories and this had the potential to be a great one. We follow Fidelis a Nigerian man who moves from Nigeria with his wife and his two kids to Florida.
The author takes us on a journey of multigenerational trauma and upbringing until present day. Fidelis‘ sister Ugochi was one of the 276 school girls that were abducted when they were younger and he goes on a journey to find her, but not before locking his daughter Amara in her room as he fears she will meet the same fate.
We see the development of Fidelis’ trauma and mental decline playing out in his household and whilst it felt real and raw there was too much happening at the same time.
All in all, the story had potential, but unfortunately for me the author had too many side plots happening that made the story seem unfinished and quite hard to follow; the Mum going to visit the preacher, the brother learning martial arts, and Amara‘s romance? Too much happening.
The end of the book threw me and seemed rushed. I may give the book another try by reading instead of listening. Whilst I didn’t love this book others might.
Both narrators were good, however I wish that they were able to do the American accents better. I will say the Nigerian pronunciations of words was done very well so well done.
The author takes us on a journey of multigenerational trauma and upbringing until present day. Fidelis‘ sister Ugochi was one of the 276 school girls that were abducted when they were younger and he goes on a journey to find her, but not before locking his daughter Amara in her room as he fears she will meet the same fate.
We see the development of Fidelis’ trauma and mental decline playing out in his household and whilst it felt real and raw there was too much happening at the same time.
All in all, the story had potential, but unfortunately for me the author had too many side plots happening that made the story seem unfinished and quite hard to follow; the Mum going to visit the preacher, the brother learning martial arts, and Amara‘s romance? Too much happening.
The end of the book threw me and seemed rushed. I may give the book another try by reading instead of listening. Whilst I didn’t love this book others might.
Both narrators were good, however I wish that they were able to do the American accents better. I will say the Nigerian pronunciations of words was done very well so well done.
June 7, 2025
The topic was profound and important. However, the writing was choppy, and not as cohesive as I’d have liked nor as interesting as the topic it dealt with.
February 5, 2025
This audiobook is narrated beautifully and respectfully by Yinka Ladeinde & Leo Anifowose. This story deals heavily with generational trauma, CPTSD, and war. The narrators voices hold so much pain, frustration, empathy, compassion, and anger that it makes the characters feel like real. Almost like friends. This was a good choice to narrate the story this way.
Basically, this is set in Orlando, Florida, amongst the Ewerike family who has immigrated from Nigeria. Husband and wife, Fidelis & Adaobi with their teenaged children Chuk & Amara. Fidelis was formerly a POW during the Nigerian Civil War. He lost his sister, Ugochi, during the war. Fidelis is struggling with CPTSD and his family is suffering right along with him. This novel focuses on how the family reacts to and manages with Fidelis' unresolved trauma. Some scenes were quite harrowing to read.
This was a first novel, and it could be felt in places. There were a few pacing issues, and this almost had too many side characters. It was hard not to invest as much in the side characters as the main characters. Not all of the side characters got a complete story, and I find myself wondering what happened to them.
Thank you to Julie Iromuanya, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.
Basically, this is set in Orlando, Florida, amongst the Ewerike family who has immigrated from Nigeria. Husband and wife, Fidelis & Adaobi with their teenaged children Chuk & Amara. Fidelis was formerly a POW during the Nigerian Civil War. He lost his sister, Ugochi, during the war. Fidelis is struggling with CPTSD and his family is suffering right along with him. This novel focuses on how the family reacts to and manages with Fidelis' unresolved trauma. Some scenes were quite harrowing to read.
This was a first novel, and it could be felt in places. There were a few pacing issues, and this almost had too many side characters. It was hard not to invest as much in the side characters as the main characters. Not all of the side characters got a complete story, and I find myself wondering what happened to them.
Thank you to Julie Iromuanya, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.
May 13, 2025
So much potential. So much letdown.
The premise for "A Season of Light" was fantastic. A married immigrant couple leaves behind civil violence in their Nigerian homeland to begin a new life in Florida. In the U.S., they raise two children, a daughter and a son. However, the father cannot escape his past, especially not when his daughter bears a striking resemblance to his disappeared, and presumed dead, sister back home in Nigeria.
News reports of a Boko Haram kidnapping reopen old wounds. Between the father's unresolved grief over his missing sister and his irrational fear for his daughter's safety, he suffers a mental break and imprisons his daughter in their suburban Florida home. The father enlists his son as a guard. The mother seeks solace in a religious cult.
The daughter's imprisonment constitutes child abuse. She is locked in a tiny room all day and forbidden from attending school, seeing her friends, or interacting face-to-face with her family. She is forced to relieve herself in buckets, which her father cleans out daily. The situation meets the UN's definition of solitary confinement, which is a form of torture under international law. Rather than help his sister, the son accepts the role of prison guard to prove his manhood.
Meanwhile, the mother adopts a c'est la vie attitude about the whole ordeal. She knows her husband isn't "right," but she doesn't move heaven and earth to protect her children.
With this plot, the author sets up an explosive third act. When the son finds a firearm at his best friend's house, I wondered if the son was going to shoot one of their parents. Nope! He just punches the father in the face and runs away. Really, the son has bigger problems, for he's the current target of a school bully.
"A Season of Light" opens too many story lines for a novel just shy of 250 pages. Readers never spend enough time with one character; the emotional ending is thus unearned. The daughter ends up sort of mad at her father for her season-long imprisonment, but otherwise, the family goes back to normal. The daughter even waxes poetic about how in love her parents are with each other! I was mad by this point in the book. I wanted the daughter to run off with her tough but kind Russian boyfriend, who was also raised by a dysfunctional and abusive father. But no! She stays with her family, because....?
The parents' marriage is intact at the end of the book. If my spouse abused my child, I'd...leave, obviously. The characters' actions made absolutely no sense. The father can be both a victim (his childhood in a politically unstable country, where his entire family was dead by the time he was teenager) and a perpetrator (abused his daughter). And if the mother shared her husband's trauma, that's understandable, given they both came of age in wartime, but she becomes a perpetrator when she allows for her daughter's abuse. And that's never earnestly reckoned with. The ending focused way too much on the Biafra and the father's sister, both of which should've been background subjects in the novel; pieces of the father's past that explain his current behavior. The father's sister occupied way too much space in the novel's present, and this detracted from the core story.
To top it off, the writing was inelegant and amateurish. The author often fell into the purple prose trap: "As darkness eroded daylight and the nighttime din swelled outside her window, she gravely inspected the torn straps of the dress." She also turned into Google Maps on one occasion: "She drove until she was on the 408, and eventually I-4. By the time she pulled off the 275 interchange, and looped off the Selmon Expressway, she thought she had reached the ends of the earth; it was only Tampa." This fragment reeks of Too Much Research and should've been removed from the final draft.
Other times, the sentences were nonsense: "There were always widows after him, one said, women despondent over the untimely deaths of men they hadn't liked much to begin with, men who had left them nothing but the status of widow when they had chosen to betray their wives to the infidelity of heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms." I read this ridiculously long sentence multiple times before I parsed its meaning. Do editors not exist anymore??? Yikes.
My favorite passage in the book came toward the end, in a chapter told from the mother's perspective. Adaobi's "first life: before war, a simple girl with simple tastes, her only excess, a love for hazelnuts. Her second life: wartime and the surrender; a something, not a someone; a thing that did what it must to survive. Her third life: this America, a man, two children. This, her third life, would be her final. She couldn't do it again. She couldn't bear another storm, gather the scattered ruins, pack them on her back, and go."
I see what the author wanted to accomplish with this novel, but the ambition doesn't match the execution. And for me, books are in the execution, not the ambition.
There's a good story here: about a man who is both victim and perpetrator, about a daughter who experiences senseless violence in the home, about a son groomed for gendered violence by his own father. But "A Season of Light" needed a few more cycles on the edit setting, for the novel feels like a harried draft.
The premise for "A Season of Light" was fantastic. A married immigrant couple leaves behind civil violence in their Nigerian homeland to begin a new life in Florida. In the U.S., they raise two children, a daughter and a son. However, the father cannot escape his past, especially not when his daughter bears a striking resemblance to his disappeared, and presumed dead, sister back home in Nigeria.
News reports of a Boko Haram kidnapping reopen old wounds. Between the father's unresolved grief over his missing sister and his irrational fear for his daughter's safety, he suffers a mental break and imprisons his daughter in their suburban Florida home. The father enlists his son as a guard. The mother seeks solace in a religious cult.
The daughter's imprisonment constitutes child abuse. She is locked in a tiny room all day and forbidden from attending school, seeing her friends, or interacting face-to-face with her family. She is forced to relieve herself in buckets, which her father cleans out daily. The situation meets the UN's definition of solitary confinement, which is a form of torture under international law. Rather than help his sister, the son accepts the role of prison guard to prove his manhood.
Meanwhile, the mother adopts a c'est la vie attitude about the whole ordeal. She knows her husband isn't "right," but she doesn't move heaven and earth to protect her children.
With this plot, the author sets up an explosive third act. When the son finds a firearm at his best friend's house, I wondered if the son was going to shoot one of their parents. Nope! He just punches the father in the face and runs away. Really, the son has bigger problems, for he's the current target of a school bully.
"A Season of Light" opens too many story lines for a novel just shy of 250 pages. Readers never spend enough time with one character; the emotional ending is thus unearned. The daughter ends up sort of mad at her father for her season-long imprisonment, but otherwise, the family goes back to normal. The daughter even waxes poetic about how in love her parents are with each other! I was mad by this point in the book. I wanted the daughter to run off with her tough but kind Russian boyfriend, who was also raised by a dysfunctional and abusive father. But no! She stays with her family, because....?
The parents' marriage is intact at the end of the book. If my spouse abused my child, I'd...leave, obviously. The characters' actions made absolutely no sense. The father can be both a victim (his childhood in a politically unstable country, where his entire family was dead by the time he was teenager) and a perpetrator (abused his daughter). And if the mother shared her husband's trauma, that's understandable, given they both came of age in wartime, but she becomes a perpetrator when she allows for her daughter's abuse. And that's never earnestly reckoned with. The ending focused way too much on the Biafra and the father's sister, both of which should've been background subjects in the novel; pieces of the father's past that explain his current behavior. The father's sister occupied way too much space in the novel's present, and this detracted from the core story.
To top it off, the writing was inelegant and amateurish. The author often fell into the purple prose trap: "As darkness eroded daylight and the nighttime din swelled outside her window, she gravely inspected the torn straps of the dress." She also turned into Google Maps on one occasion: "She drove until she was on the 408, and eventually I-4. By the time she pulled off the 275 interchange, and looped off the Selmon Expressway, she thought she had reached the ends of the earth; it was only Tampa." This fragment reeks of Too Much Research and should've been removed from the final draft.
Other times, the sentences were nonsense: "There were always widows after him, one said, women despondent over the untimely deaths of men they hadn't liked much to begin with, men who had left them nothing but the status of widow when they had chosen to betray their wives to the infidelity of heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms." I read this ridiculously long sentence multiple times before I parsed its meaning. Do editors not exist anymore??? Yikes.
My favorite passage in the book came toward the end, in a chapter told from the mother's perspective. Adaobi's "first life: before war, a simple girl with simple tastes, her only excess, a love for hazelnuts. Her second life: wartime and the surrender; a something, not a someone; a thing that did what it must to survive. Her third life: this America, a man, two children. This, her third life, would be her final. She couldn't do it again. She couldn't bear another storm, gather the scattered ruins, pack them on her back, and go."
I see what the author wanted to accomplish with this novel, but the ambition doesn't match the execution. And for me, books are in the execution, not the ambition.
There's a good story here: about a man who is both victim and perpetrator, about a daughter who experiences senseless violence in the home, about a son groomed for gendered violence by his own father. But "A Season of Light" needed a few more cycles on the edit setting, for the novel feels like a harried draft.
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