A Trick Of The Light: A Fairy Tale About Knowing

by Brendan Myers

“When I look back on my life, it seems as if I grew up by accident. But at the end of the day, that’s the best way to grow up, isn’t it?”

Eleven-year-old troublemaker Jillian Brighton receives an unexpected a magical telescope that can see into alternate realities. As she learns to use it, she discovers a civilization on the moon. But her best friend doesn’t believe her, and her suspicious parents want the telescope sent back where it came from. Then the shady private detective Nicholas Brogger tells her the telescope was stolen, and that he is coming to take it away. Determined to keep it, Jillian must outwit him at his own game.

A spinoff from The Hidden Houses, the author’s urban fantasy series, A Trick Of The Light is a modern-day fairy tale about knowledge, childhood, and discovery.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2014

About the author

By day, Brendan Myers is a professor of philosophy at Cegep Heritage College, in Gatineau, Quebec. By night, he composes thought-operas. And sometimes he publishes them.

Reviews

[Pamela Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but Sweet

I loved this short fairy story from the moment I began. I now need to know more about the secret people and the further adventures of Jillian. Well told story

[Jeff Lilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short, compelling book, which ties into Myers's other Fellwater fiction but also stands on its own as a complete tale, is written for younger readers, but is also entertaining and interesting for those of us who've raised some younger readers ourselves. I picked this up hoping for a light introduction to Myers's work, and perhaps to find something I could recommend to my own children.

There was a lot to enjoy here. The protagonist (Jillian) is an active, likable, intelligent girl who doesn't always follow the rules, but has her own ideas and goals, doesn't rely on a boy to save her (or the day), and resolves her problems on her own terms. The other characters are well drawn -- I particularly enjoyed reading about her mother and father, who were quirky and humorous, and consistently violated my expectations delightfully. Myers also does a great job of tantalizing the reader with hints and glimpses of the larger fictional world; he leaves you with a sense that there's more -- a lot more -- and you're eager to find out about it.

I did have some issues, however. Probably the most difficult thing for me was the narrative voice: it seemed to me that Myers was trying to write for a pretty young audience (perhaps 7-8 year olds, or even younger?) but not really nailing it. The phrasing was sometimes awkward; it felt forced, simplified, even simplistic, rather than just simple and direct.

Jillian sometimes seemed to be emotionally much younger than her eleven years. Since I have four children aged 10-16, I know that age pretty well, and it felt like Myers could have given his protagonist more maturity, longer sentences, and a larger vocabulary. This, in turn, would have given Myers a larger toolkit to bring depth and subtlety to the story.

I also felt that the story was a bit predictable. It's true that children probably won't find it so, but for this adult there were enough common tropes to make parts of the story tedious.

Finally, I found the ending rather unsatisfying; there was a lack of thematic cohesion. The "trick" that Jillian uses to bring the story to a happy conclusion is not really related to the main themes of the story (which I took to be independence, curiosity, and self-determination). Put another way: it's not clear that Jillian really learns a lesson that allows her to win out in the end; she wins by cleverness and courage -- and she's clever and courageous throughout the book.

Oh, and Myers notes at the end that the original title for the book was "Jillian Brighton and the Wonderful Cosmographic Telescope." Personally I think that title is awesome and should be kept! (Can a book have two subtitles?)

But the bottom line is that the story was a fun and interesting read, and made me interested to find out more about Myers's fictional world. I'll definitely be picking up more of his books, and sharing this one with my own kids!

[Julie Wittekind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful!

This is a tale of cosmic wonders! Two friends see a woman atop the roof of an abandoned house. One goes up on the roof and meets her looking through a telescope. During a storm that evening a large package arrives and the real adventure begins. This is a truly fun read for children and adults! Enjoy!

[Maryalice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short story. Easy to read, but kept my interest.