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In Meadowlight: The beautiful new novel from the award-winning author of To Fill a Yellow House
After a spell of misfortune, Mercy has a chance to start again.
A no-fault eviction led her to the world of house-sitting, and she has been moving from home to home, rebuilding her life. With advice from her mentor Ekua and a virtual community of fellow house-sitters, Mercy has garnered reviews and ratings that have led to better opportunities. Now, in what may be her last move in the UK, she is staying in Meadowlight, a refurbished cottage in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Mercy's new routine provides structure. Water the plants. Feed the cats. Teach maths online. The house offers time to reflect on relationships that have fallen away, reconnect with childhood friends and reimagine her future.
With a good review, she could stay in similar houses overseas. Pursue her passion for photography. But every house, even one as tranquil as this, has its own stories. The homeowner, a pan-Africanist art collector, is making her presence known, even in her absence. And now the three cats have disappeared . . .
Welcome to Meadowlight. Enjoy your stay.
A no-fault eviction led her to the world of house-sitting, and she has been moving from home to home, rebuilding her life. With advice from her mentor Ekua and a virtual community of fellow house-sitters, Mercy has garnered reviews and ratings that have led to better opportunities. Now, in what may be her last move in the UK, she is staying in Meadowlight, a refurbished cottage in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Mercy's new routine provides structure. Water the plants. Feed the cats. Teach maths online. The house offers time to reflect on relationships that have fallen away, reconnect with childhood friends and reimagine her future.
With a good review, she could stay in similar houses overseas. Pursue her passion for photography. But every house, even one as tranquil as this, has its own stories. The homeowner, a pan-Africanist art collector, is making her presence known, even in her absence. And now the three cats have disappeared . . .
Welcome to Meadowlight. Enjoy your stay.
227 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2026
About the author
Sussie Anie
6 books19 followersSussie Anie is a British-Ghanaian writer, born in London in 1994. Her writing has been published in Lolwe, and was shortlisted for the 2020 White Review Short Story prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where she was the recipient of the 2018-19 Kowitz Scholarship. To Fill a Yellow House is her debut novel.
source: Amazon
source: Amazon
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 10, 2026
Thank you to Netgalley and Orion publishing for providing me with a free ARC.
A very enticing premisce that fell completely flat. The writing is absolutely beautiful but the story doesn't seem to lead to anything. A plot less book is fine to me if it delivers emotionally or has some great character archs. Unfortunately none of it was found here.
The vignette were the past was brought up felt so disjointed and we barely learned anything valuable in the end.. I didn't connect to the characters and hoped the mysterious house might reveal something special.. alas.
A very enticing premisce that fell completely flat. The writing is absolutely beautiful but the story doesn't seem to lead to anything. A plot less book is fine to me if it delivers emotionally or has some great character archs. Unfortunately none of it was found here.
The vignette were the past was brought up felt so disjointed and we barely learned anything valuable in the end.. I didn't connect to the characters and hoped the mysterious house might reveal something special.. alas.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received a free advance copy of In Meadowlight by Sussie Anie in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Orion Books for this opportunity.
I’ll admit it upfront: I requested this ARC for the cover. And the title. In Meadowlight follows Mercy, a queer daughter of the Ghanaian diaspora in the UK, who’s recovering from quite a long stretch of misfortune and instability. After a no-fault eviction, she ends up house-sitting, moving from home to home while trying to rebuild her life.
The plot revolves around a couple of days in which she's housesitting a particularly nice cottage with a peculiar owner. In the quiet of the English countryside, Mercy contemplates on what she's been through.
Debt, a breakup, conflict with her parents, and a period in a cult layered on top of each other. We learn about her past peacemeal, as Mercy drifts through rooms and memories in Meadowlight.
This is a slow, contemplative novel, and it had to grow on me. It strikingly captures the tentative way one feels out a new place, a new routine, the vulnerability involved.
At its core, this is a book about healing. Not the glossy version. The kind that starts with feeling safe enough to admit that maybe, you’re not okay. Mercy is so out of it that she feels detached even from her own agency, which is both impressive on the page and occasionally frustrating to read. Still, it's true to the subject mayter: healing takes time. It happens in increments, rarely in great leaps. Before “getting your act together,” you might have to embrace your self-love, feel that you deserve a better life. That it’s okay to not be okay right now. That maybe, sometimes, it wasn’t your fault.
I connected with the book a lot more in the second act, when Mercy reunites with her childhood friends. These women are successful, but each carries her own struggle, and their friendship is genuinely wholesome. One line that stuck with me: “My whole family is pressure, all the way. (…) Excellence. Every day. But at some point, you know what, we have to live.”
My main reservation is the ending. A lot of plot points are resolved neatly, but after such an intimate portrayal of a healing process, I wanted a little more reflection at the finish. There are emotional threads here that still feel unpacked.
Overall, this book moved around for me while reading, from a three-star start to a solid four-star middle, then settling closer to 3.5/5 by the end. Still, I’m glad I read it, and I think it will land best for readers who like quiet literary fiction that documents recovery in real time, without rushing.
I’ll admit it upfront: I requested this ARC for the cover. And the title. In Meadowlight follows Mercy, a queer daughter of the Ghanaian diaspora in the UK, who’s recovering from quite a long stretch of misfortune and instability. After a no-fault eviction, she ends up house-sitting, moving from home to home while trying to rebuild her life.
The plot revolves around a couple of days in which she's housesitting a particularly nice cottage with a peculiar owner. In the quiet of the English countryside, Mercy contemplates on what she's been through.
Debt, a breakup, conflict with her parents, and a period in a cult layered on top of each other. We learn about her past peacemeal, as Mercy drifts through rooms and memories in Meadowlight.
This is a slow, contemplative novel, and it had to grow on me. It strikingly captures the tentative way one feels out a new place, a new routine, the vulnerability involved.
At its core, this is a book about healing. Not the glossy version. The kind that starts with feeling safe enough to admit that maybe, you’re not okay. Mercy is so out of it that she feels detached even from her own agency, which is both impressive on the page and occasionally frustrating to read. Still, it's true to the subject mayter: healing takes time. It happens in increments, rarely in great leaps. Before “getting your act together,” you might have to embrace your self-love, feel that you deserve a better life. That it’s okay to not be okay right now. That maybe, sometimes, it wasn’t your fault.
I connected with the book a lot more in the second act, when Mercy reunites with her childhood friends. These women are successful, but each carries her own struggle, and their friendship is genuinely wholesome. One line that stuck with me: “My whole family is pressure, all the way. (…) Excellence. Every day. But at some point, you know what, we have to live.”
My main reservation is the ending. A lot of plot points are resolved neatly, but after such an intimate portrayal of a healing process, I wanted a little more reflection at the finish. There are emotional threads here that still feel unpacked.
Overall, this book moved around for me while reading, from a three-star start to a solid four-star middle, then settling closer to 3.5/5 by the end. Still, I’m glad I read it, and I think it will land best for readers who like quiet literary fiction that documents recovery in real time, without rushing.
August 7, 2026
I have slightly complicated feelings about In Meadowlight because there was quite a lot here that I genuinely liked.
First, the premise. Mercy is housesitting after losing her own home, moving temporarily into other people's spaces, and I found that idea fascinating. Meadowlight in particular begins to feel almost like another character. At one point its owner says that the house can get lonely, and that idea stayed with me.
Sussie Anie is also very good at creating a sense of place. I could picture the rooms, feel their stillness and understand why this particular house makes Mercy turn inward and reflect on her life. I loved some of the novel's observations about places, especially the idea that every place has its own soundtrack.
Mercy is thoughtful, sensitive, melancholic and creative, but she's also very closed within herself. And that's where I struggled.
This is a very quiet novel. For long stretches we're inside Mercy's thoughts and memories, and eventually I found myself craving something to actually happen. There are quite a few people from her past to keep track of, and some of the memories initially felt a little chaotic to me rather than emotionally engaging.
Interestingly, I enjoyed the book much more once Mercy's three university friends were together at Meadowlight. Their dialogue felt so natural. Those scenes had this lovely feeling of sitting in a warm kitchen with hot tea, wrapped in a blanket, listening to close friends reminisce about their lives. I wanted more of that.
The missing cats eventually introduce a little more movement, and the different relationships come together toward the end, including Mercy's relationship with Gemz and the house owner's own family story. The ending was satisfying, if perhaps a little neat for me.
So, three stars. I can appreciate the writing, the originality of the premise and what Anie is exploring about home, memory and belonging. I just needed more narrative momentum. This was one of those books I admired more than I enjoyed reading, and I think readers who love extremely quiet, introspective literary fiction may connect with it much more than I did.
First, the premise. Mercy is housesitting after losing her own home, moving temporarily into other people's spaces, and I found that idea fascinating. Meadowlight in particular begins to feel almost like another character. At one point its owner says that the house can get lonely, and that idea stayed with me.
Sussie Anie is also very good at creating a sense of place. I could picture the rooms, feel their stillness and understand why this particular house makes Mercy turn inward and reflect on her life. I loved some of the novel's observations about places, especially the idea that every place has its own soundtrack.
Mercy is thoughtful, sensitive, melancholic and creative, but she's also very closed within herself. And that's where I struggled.
This is a very quiet novel. For long stretches we're inside Mercy's thoughts and memories, and eventually I found myself craving something to actually happen. There are quite a few people from her past to keep track of, and some of the memories initially felt a little chaotic to me rather than emotionally engaging.
Interestingly, I enjoyed the book much more once Mercy's three university friends were together at Meadowlight. Their dialogue felt so natural. Those scenes had this lovely feeling of sitting in a warm kitchen with hot tea, wrapped in a blanket, listening to close friends reminisce about their lives. I wanted more of that.
The missing cats eventually introduce a little more movement, and the different relationships come together toward the end, including Mercy's relationship with Gemz and the house owner's own family story. The ending was satisfying, if perhaps a little neat for me.
So, three stars. I can appreciate the writing, the originality of the premise and what Anie is exploring about home, memory and belonging. I just needed more narrative momentum. This was one of those books I admired more than I enjoyed reading, and I think readers who love extremely quiet, introspective literary fiction may connect with it much more than I did.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The cover drew me in and premise sounded so promising but unfortunately I wasn't a fan of the execution.
We're following Mercy as she's housesitting for an art collector in a beautiful remote house. The peacefulness lets Mercy reflect on her life, focusing on her relationships with friends, family, partners and what might happen if she reaches out to them.
There were some great passages about the emotional distance that grows between you and your friends/ family due to everyone's lives moving in different directions. Also about, choosing a path for yourself to reclaim your autonomy. I liked learning of her Ghanaian heritage and thoughts on her identity.
Love seeing a UEA graduate! That's my local uni so always interested to see what their authors release.
I usually love character driven books and I was onboard with the overall message of the book but the writing style used here really wasn't for me, it felt very stilted and at the same time meandering. Way too many commas.
Perhaps if you're a reader with a multicultural background who loves slower character driven books you'll get more out of this than me. Hope it find its audience.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
We're following Mercy as she's housesitting for an art collector in a beautiful remote house. The peacefulness lets Mercy reflect on her life, focusing on her relationships with friends, family, partners and what might happen if she reaches out to them.
There were some great passages about the emotional distance that grows between you and your friends/ family due to everyone's lives moving in different directions. Also about, choosing a path for yourself to reclaim your autonomy. I liked learning of her Ghanaian heritage and thoughts on her identity.
Love seeing a UEA graduate! That's my local uni so always interested to see what their authors release.
I usually love character driven books and I was onboard with the overall message of the book but the writing style used here really wasn't for me, it felt very stilted and at the same time meandering. Way too many commas.
Perhaps if you're a reader with a multicultural background who loves slower character driven books you'll get more out of this than me. Hope it find its audience.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
August 3, 2026
Thank you NetGalley, Orion Books, and Sussie Anie for an ARC of 'In Meadowlight'.
'In Meadowlight' follows Mercy, a member of the Ghanaian diaspora in the UK who house-sits for a living. We find her at a low point: a no-fault eviction, break-up, and traumatic run in with a religious cult have left her isolated and drifting. It is this house: Meadowlight, which brings her back to life.
I was drawn in by the concept of this book: an introspective story where the MC unveils the mysteries of a house and discovers something about herself along the way. And in some ways, I got this. I particularly enjoyed the relationships Anie created between Mercy and her friends, her complicated backstory, and her struggles in early adulthood. I also thought Anie's lyrical way of writing was beautiful, especially in her descriptions of Meadowlight, although it could also be obtrusive to the flow - there were lots of commas!
Generally, though, I was disappointed by this book's execution. The whole story felt very static; and any sense of urgency created e.g. by Mercy's need to find the cats was undercut by her immediate refusal to do so, highlighting this as a narrative device rather than a convincing plot point. Also, despite spending so much time with them, I still feel like I barely know either Mercy or the woman whose house she was sitting in!
Overall, not for me.
'In Meadowlight' follows Mercy, a member of the Ghanaian diaspora in the UK who house-sits for a living. We find her at a low point: a no-fault eviction, break-up, and traumatic run in with a religious cult have left her isolated and drifting. It is this house: Meadowlight, which brings her back to life.
I was drawn in by the concept of this book: an introspective story where the MC unveils the mysteries of a house and discovers something about herself along the way. And in some ways, I got this. I particularly enjoyed the relationships Anie created between Mercy and her friends, her complicated backstory, and her struggles in early adulthood. I also thought Anie's lyrical way of writing was beautiful, especially in her descriptions of Meadowlight, although it could also be obtrusive to the flow - there were lots of commas!
Generally, though, I was disappointed by this book's execution. The whole story felt very static; and any sense of urgency created e.g. by Mercy's need to find the cats was undercut by her immediate refusal to do so, highlighting this as a narrative device rather than a convincing plot point. Also, despite spending so much time with them, I still feel like I barely know either Mercy or the woman whose house she was sitting in!
Overall, not for me.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews