In the Light of Men

by Sam Desmond

Belén Aguilar has spent her life dreaming of British lineage and family prestige.



In marrying Patrick Stratton-Delaney, she moves to his idyllic town of Carel, where she becomes a reporter for the local paper.



Carel, located on the south shore of Long Island and a 90-minute train ride to Manhattan, becomes the almost-English-countryside home of Belén's dreams.



Euphoric over painting and highlighting the tight-knit community's stories, Belén internally struggles with her self-deprecation and machinations of being sub-par for Carel.



In her stories and dalliances, she seeks to be in the light of men to outshine her self-doubt.

156 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book- the writing style is very unique with the mix of different writing elements to tell the story (news articles, text messages, poems along with the prose narrative). They all come together to tell a powerful story

[Missi Lombardo Tini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only someone with firsthand knowledge can write something so raw and powerful about the human condition, our mental health struggles as women, and be completely spot-on. This was an all-heart piece of art. Although not written in any style that I have ever read before, I enjoyed the ride and felt myself wanting to know more about the women in these little novellas. I look forward to Sam’s next book with enthusiasm and great expectations. Well done!!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun and twisty read. Both times I’ve read it I’ve read it cover to cover. The propulsive momentum of the narrative is so strong. Without spoiling it I’ll say the plot structure is very clever and that lends it a lot of its momentum. The writer has a very fresh voice s d this book is highly recommended!

[Suzanne Neske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Desmond’s In the Light of Men, is a powerful, gritty novella. The book, itself, is a delight for the reader’s literary and artistic senses, featuring Ms. Desmond‘s signature masterful wording, phrasing, and description developed with a unique blend of poetry, prose, texts, journalism, beautiful artwork, and a haunting cover that sets the tone. It’s raw; it’s real. It’s fact; it’s fiction. The novella offers the author’s powerful observation and contemporary exploration of issues that resonate with larger audiences than the bucolic, fictional setting of Carel, a small historic town on Long Island, New York. You need only to read pages 84 to 85 to know that Sam Desmond gets it! The reader agonizes along with Belén, the main character, with the duality of our beliefs and behaviors, and our need to please ourselves and others. She offers an honest admission that we are all flawed, but hope for love, praise, and recognition anyway. Universal truths of wanting to be liked, wanting to fit in, feeling phony, inferior, and unwanted at times, provide a self examination that may be more familiar to women who are made to feel somehow not good enough. It’s Belén’s story, the author’s story, my story, your story. It’s one hell of a read!

[Brian Alessandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desmond clearly works from a genuine place of authentic insight. She understands the pain of alienation and loneliness. Further, she has a firm grasp of psychologically complex motivation and drives. Even if behavior seems absurd or self-destructive to an outsider, she provides sufficient clinical under-girding to make the desire understandable and thereby fosters empathy for her characters. Also, her format is novel. I am a huge fan of fiction that mixes formats -- journal confessionals, newspaper articles, etc. -- in telling a story. Her fiction is original, provocative, and most importantly personal.

[Michael Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant account of a young woman struggling with life as a Long Island journalist and aspiring author. Carel, the fictional village of the novel, is the equivalent of John O’Hara’s Gibbsville, Pennsylvania. My first thought upon finishing this novel was that this author does for Long Island what O’Hara did for the coal region of Pennsylvania. She explores similar themes of class divisions, bigotries, and sexual tensions behind the facade of upper and middle-class American life. Hopefully this is the first of a long series of works about Carel and its residents.

[Vincent Vertuccio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really exceptional. Sam weaves together a lot of mediums to tell an enrapturing story, and the flow is excellent. I read most of this book in one sitting, which is unusual for me. It resonates extra with some of the regional stories being the same as mine, but this is a book anyone can enjoy.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.