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Escape into Light
Finding herself suddenly alone after nursing her demanding mother for many years, Caroline suffers a breakdown. With the help of Jon, a gentle man with a breakdown in his own past, she gradually reinvents herself as Charley, a bright, independent woman. She and Jon travel to Tunisia where, in a cool, light villa by the sea, Charley’s true healing begins and she and Jon discover a warmth that brings them closer together. But then shadows begin to close in on them again, tarnishing the beauty of their new-found love. Their Tunisian hostess becomes ill, her adopted child disappears, and a sinister stranger is discovered haunting the villa. It will take all of their strength and love to bring back the light they had found.
484 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
24 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Webster
71 books6 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 4, 2020
Charley is “brave and loyal, and an enchanting companion...compassionate and kind...a most competent and sympathetic nurse…a delight to the eye, and especially beautiful when [she laughs]...And [she speaks] beautiful French!” What more could a man want?!! And Charley is here when anyone calls. When her garrulous invalid mother, who passed away from a heart attack, called. When her Tunisian host, a widowed matriarch dying of cancer, calls. When her host’s adopted street orphan calls. When her friend and photographer, recovering from his friends’ death and his own injury, calls. Charley feels compelled that she must be there to answer, always, and the tugging loyalties begins to crack her mental wellbeing. “How perilous the world felt...how fragile each day and each moment of happiness, how dangerous each new step across unknown paths...the dangerous cracks in this brittle world?” But “the light filled mirages of Turner and Monet spoke of different worlds--unsullied and unbroken--their shimmering radiance a shield against darkness...No holes in light.”
When Tunisia calls, Charley enters a land of halcyon days and harlequin colours, pink clouds of flamingos, “sun gilded walls and cheerful tourists..tea drinkers and prosperous traders…That’s the joy of this place. You don’t have to be anything. Just be...But there were dark alleys beyond the bright street displays, and small boys beggin at street corners, a sudden glimpse of an old, worn face peering out from a darkened doorway, and veiled women hurrying away under hidden arches...Yes, there were shadows, too, behind that sunlight...Most people are [afraid]--underneath. They cover it up in different wild and desperate ways...but we all know how thin the crust is...Awareness of the abyss...Incurable...But there are compensations...Such as Monet’s waterlilies...Everything looks more beautiful when it is threatened.”
When both her former suitor and French doctor threaten Charley’s newfound independence with proposals of marriage, she refuses. “I didn’t want to marry [them]...That’s why. It may not have occurred to you, but for a woman today there are other things in life besides getting married...A single woman--bringing up a child alone? It won’t be easy. I shall manage very well...I can earn my own living...Freedom without love is a barren future.” Charley discovers that love “is as ungovernable as the light...and just as inescapable.”“You can’t stay cautious forever...You’ve got to let love in somewhere. What else is living for?” I shall “plunge out into the world with nowhere to go” and pursue light. It’s the only purpose I’ve got...The universal savior--but that was exactly what I needed.”
“It takes an aficionado to recognise the language of despair” and Elizabeth Webster communicates fluently! Anxiety. Rehab. Global conservation. AIDS. Relief work. Single motherhood. Adoption. Escape Into Light addresses current issues while proving a classic love story that is a tribute to “the value of the written word.” A perfect story to screen, starring Emma Stone as Charley and Michael Ealy as Jon. “Merveilleux.”
When Tunisia calls, Charley enters a land of halcyon days and harlequin colours, pink clouds of flamingos, “sun gilded walls and cheerful tourists..tea drinkers and prosperous traders…That’s the joy of this place. You don’t have to be anything. Just be...But there were dark alleys beyond the bright street displays, and small boys beggin at street corners, a sudden glimpse of an old, worn face peering out from a darkened doorway, and veiled women hurrying away under hidden arches...Yes, there were shadows, too, behind that sunlight...Most people are [afraid]--underneath. They cover it up in different wild and desperate ways...but we all know how thin the crust is...Awareness of the abyss...Incurable...But there are compensations...Such as Monet’s waterlilies...Everything looks more beautiful when it is threatened.”
When both her former suitor and French doctor threaten Charley’s newfound independence with proposals of marriage, she refuses. “I didn’t want to marry [them]...That’s why. It may not have occurred to you, but for a woman today there are other things in life besides getting married...A single woman--bringing up a child alone? It won’t be easy. I shall manage very well...I can earn my own living...Freedom without love is a barren future.” Charley discovers that love “is as ungovernable as the light...and just as inescapable.”“You can’t stay cautious forever...You’ve got to let love in somewhere. What else is living for?” I shall “plunge out into the world with nowhere to go” and pursue light. It’s the only purpose I’ve got...The universal savior--but that was exactly what I needed.”
“It takes an aficionado to recognise the language of despair” and Elizabeth Webster communicates fluently! Anxiety. Rehab. Global conservation. AIDS. Relief work. Single motherhood. Adoption. Escape Into Light addresses current issues while proving a classic love story that is a tribute to “the value of the written word.” A perfect story to screen, starring Emma Stone as Charley and Michael Ealy as Jon. “Merveilleux.”
February 24, 2012
Wonderful story...Jude Law and Minnie Driver should play the main roles if this were made into a movie...
June 27, 2022
It was a cute story that follows the journey embarked by a young woman from Carolina to Charley...read it long back in a readers digest condensed book
June 2, 2023
Long time favourite, absolutely vivid. A lovely story with compelling characters and a sweetness and innocence to it despite the hardship and grief.
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May 6, 2024DNF
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March 15, 2025Part 3 and the characters are finally in Tunisia working on a project at Lake Ichkeul. The description of the migratory birds there is beautiful. Interesting to learn about the lake's history before and after Damns were added.
For being an early 90s book the author adressed anxiety/PTSD fairly well
Pacing is all over the place and random. At times it dragged along and other times it was a page-turner.
For being an early 90s book the author adressed anxiety/PTSD fairly well
Pacing is all over the place and random. At times it dragged along and other times it was a page-turner.
July 19, 2013
One of my all time favorites, but because I haven't read it recently, I never thought to put it on here. Highly recommended - just a sweet, romantic, easy flowing book.
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April 19, 2014No tengo mucho que decir acerca de este libro, es bueno y es todo.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews