The Blind Light

by Stuart Evers

The year is 1959. Two young soldiers, Drummond and Carter—one working-class, the other privileged—form an intense and unlikely friendship at “Doomtown,” a training center that simulates the aftermath of an atomic strike. Years later, the men watch in horror as the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold. Carter, now a high-ranking British government official, offers Drummond a way to save himself and his family in the event of a nuclear strike. Their pact, kept secret, will have devastating consequences for the very lives they seek to protect.


Spanning decades, from the 1950s to the present, this ambitious, original novel offers a nuanced and absorbing portrait of friendship and rivalry that explores class divisions and the psychological legacy of the nuclear age.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Historical, Novels

544 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2020

About the author

Formerly a bookseller and editor, Stuart Evers is a writer and reviewer. His short stories have appeared in The Best British Short Stories 2012, Prospect and on The Times website. He has reviewed for a wide range of publications including the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph and New Statesman. He lives in London.

His first book was published in 2011, a collection of short stories entitled Ten Stories about Smoking. It was described by the Daily Telegraph as "original and quietly devastating", while New Statesman noted echoes of Raymond Carver and Alice Munro. The book won the 2011 London Book Award at the London Awards for Art and Performance.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stuart Evers epic and ambitious novel follows the lives, friendship, and families of two men, Drummond 'Drum' Moore and Carter from post-war 1950s Britain through the decades, amidst the background of British and global history, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, Dagenham Strikes. the IRA bombing campaigns, the War on Terror and culture. Drum ignites his friendship with Carter in 1959 when they meet during National Service after saving him from a card scam. The two men are very different, Drum is the quiet, background type whilst Carter has a confidence, social adeptness, and certainty that befits a privileged man from an influential social strata, sent down from Oxford, a slippery man. From the start, the relationship is overtly unequal, with Carter having no qualms about gaslighting Drum and letting him down. Drum changes so much that he becomes a double act with Carter in the regaling of their fictitious war stories at the base, finding a respect and deference that had never been accorded to him previously.

Drum begins to read after nudging from Carter, beginning with Charles Dicken's Great Expectations, perhaps an allusion to Drum's expectations of his friendship with Carter, moving on to other books, where he sees the ghost of Carter in all of them. Their time at Doom Town, the military post-apocalyptic training exercises are to haunt and have long lasting consequences. Drum is to marry Gwen, a barmaid, whilst Carter weds Daphne, and have children. When the men return to ordinary life, Carter falling back into his life of social and economic privilege with an effortless ease whilst Drum becomes a Ford worker at Dagenham. The lives of the two men appear to be on completely different trajectories until Carter offers Drum the opportunity to become a farmer by moving North, the two families next to each other. The narrative follows their lives, the ins and outs of their relationships, their children, the conflicts, betrayals, deceptions, and the specific fallout of what happens in the 1980s through the decades as the past continues to haunt the present.

The details and rich descriptions in the novel make the time periods feel authentic and come alive, particularly the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Evers real talent is in the creation of his complicated characters, and developing them, the exploration of their complex relationships with each other as they come together and disintegrate through the years, lives and patterns that resonate with local, national and global history and events. This is brilliantly structured storytelling, about all that it is to be human and flawed, class, friendship, marriage, family, being a parent, family dynamics, behaviour and decisions made when a person has little idea as to their consequences in the future. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.

[Ellie Spencer (catching up from hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up from somewhere between 2.5-3 stars ⭐️

The blind light follows the lives of Drummond and Carter, two young men meet during their time in service. Over the years their friendship and lives develop and change.

I’m not fully sure how to I feel about this book. It’s the first time I’ve been really unsure about a star rating. I really liked how this book spanned so many different decades and important life points. It was like following someone through a real life journey. That being said, I felt the book was far longer than it needed to be and it seemed to drag. I loved the short chapters but really struggled with Evers’ writing style. Random words would be missing in sentences, they still made sense but they didn’t read properly. Every time this happened I’d get stuck and end up rereading the sentence again.

There was a section in the middle of the book that I absolutely loved! I did not want to put the book down and felt an anticipation, like something really exciting was about to happen. I would have given this section 4-4.5 stars. But, when it all came to a head I felt it was anticlimactic and underwhelming. I found myself so frustrated with some of the characters. I struggled to feel any sympathy for their situation and just wanted to shake them. This is a story of family and friendships, but overall their lives were mostly pretty easy, which made it really tough for me to sympathize with their disagreements. I know many people will love this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys historical fiction with a slow pace that is mostly drama free. I want to thank Readers First, the publishers and the author for allowing me to read this book and give my personal thoughts.

[Kalliope · Rating 4 out of 5]

The other day I was talking with a young relative. He is in his mid-twenties. We were discussing the possible intentions China may have vis a vis Taiwan and what would be the reactions of the other major powers, such as the US, Russia, Japan… He thought that China would be pre-empted from any aggressive behaviour because they would not be interested in the economic repercussions were this action to run against the grain of the other powers. The concept of war, or of any serious military conflict just did not cross his mind.

I am lucky to belong to a generation that has not experienced war at first hand. But my generation has felt very aware of the experiences that our parents and grandparents have gone through. I find myself having to discard some reactions, very conservative and very protective, that we have inherited from those who lived through some very dangerous times.

It was during the cold war that I began learning a new language. When in class we were asked to answer to simple questions such as: What will you do this weekend? Where will you go this summer? We all began our sloppy sentences with something like “If there is no war, then I would like to….”. For the past decades this always present vulnerability and has disappeared (Covid brought a new uncertainty, however) from our concerns.

This novel came to my post-box as part of a bookshop subscription. I had not heard about it nor about this author. It presents the fortuitous friendship of two men across four decades, from the early 1960s until today. The two men belong to divergent social classes, but they met, plausibly, in a military context – where else would such two people have otherwise met?

The story moves across those many years, tracking their lives in a very engaging manner. People develop, circumstances change, other people enter the scene, feelings grow, and chances have a play too. But all along the narration the latent danger of war, of a major war, looms over the characters. The idea of an impending total war for some time obsesses them--and their frustration channels into deceiving themselves with the prospect of idiotic bunkers—but then its shadow disappears if only to reappear transformed.

I had forgotten how prescient this threat of a major destruction had felt in the past and the naivete of my young relative made me feel both relieved and thankful for the long peace most of us have lived through. But it also made me feel strangely uneasy and apprehensive of the (self-deluding?) comfort we enjoy in our current easy-going lives.

[Jonathan Pool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Themes

This is a book about personal relationships. The consequences of heavy handed parenting and the failure of a parent to trust their child. Stories of hedonism and the attendant danger for the young and inexperienced are cleverly juxtaposed and you can feel some sympathy for the parent. A necessary rite of passage can carry risks.
The parent child relationship is fraught, and so is the marital relationship as temptation arises and there’s the reflection on what might have been. In a telling cry from the heart one wife explains to the other “our men are liars”

It’s a story too about fear of the big world and our vulnerability as human beings. This is highly appropriate for the times we are presently experiencing in the era of Covid 19 in 2020. The backdrop to the story is that of international nuclear conflagration (East and West) at the time of the Cuba crisis, through the Cold War; the invasion of Afghanistan, and Gorbachev. Fear of global events beyond our personal control extends to the 9/11 Twin Towers in the USA and the multiple bombings in London in 2005.

Synopsis

The book covers a sixty year span from 1959 to 2019.

Gwen and Drummond Moore are parents to Anneke and Nathan; James (Jim) and Daphne Carter have their son Tommy.
Gwen’s own sense of self doesn’t diminish , and this is reflected in a lifelong yearning for two significant men, Nicolas Oldman, and Ray(mond) Porter. The relationships are largely chaste, and conducted from a distance once Gwen has married. The existence of these two men remains a secret to the rest of her family.
The friendship between Carter and Drummond is one born out of military service, and the training ground. Carter is highly educated and privileged. Drummond is working class, as represented in the time he spends on the picket line at Ford’s Dagenham plant. Carter, rather pompously in his memoirs says of war (training) experience: “service allowed the classes to mingle” –Carter continues to have superior attitudes and refers to Drum as “my Panza”.

The setting switches from London to the Carter house and neighboring farm four hours north of London, in the Midlands. Gwen demonstrates (again) that she is adept as Drum in telling lies convincingly. The way in which land is acquired resonated with me from my own experiences in the south of England, some years ago!

Historical & Literary context

Late c.20th history, and specifically the secret programs put in place to protect the population, underground, in bunkers, is an important backdrop to The Blind Light. The way in which Evers introduces retrospective written recollections of the events in books and memoirs by those that managed the covert operations is especially effective. One account is even attributed to the B.S. Johnson archive.
Doom Town, where Carter and Drum first meet is a fake town populated by mannequins. The real Doom Town in Nevada, USA (1953) was used for exactly this training exercise for a post nuclear fallout world. In 1955 a Defence White Paper said that a future war would result in a “struggle for survival of the grimmest kind”. In 1982, a secret Home Office exercise focused on one central region; Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, and imagined the consequences and reactions in a post nuclear fallout. The BBC television production, Threads , was aired in 1984, and dramatised the secret manoeuvres. All fascinating, and all fictionalised via the Carter and Moore families. Very thought provoking, and written in a suitably unsettling style.
Intriguingly an online search reveals that in the world today Germany has protected shelters for 3% of its population, Austria for 30%, Sweden for 81%, and Switzerland for 114%
Literature plays its part too. Gwen only warms to Drum when she sees him with a copy of Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning , and Gwen’s relationship with Nick, is also based around shared books.

Questions

• Early in the book a chapter is titled “Doom Town and the One”. I would like to know what “The One” (which is repeated a few times) means?
• A character named Chris Birch appears, a youth football prodigy, and contemporary of Nathan. He writes his own memoir “Schoolboy Papers”. I could not fathom what his inclusion signifies
• Similarly, and equally baffling is the cameo from a corpulent teenage boy, the owner of house where an illegal rave takes place; he is a mountainous blob playing Fernando on a record player loop. Think Great Gatsby playing host to good time partygoers. But what does this mean in the context of the book?

Author background & Reviews

Stuart Evers has had success most notably with short story collections. Your Father Sends His Love was shortlisted for the 2016 Edge Hill Short Story Prize. In interviews Evers cites as contemporary influences, Zadie Smith, Hari Kunzru, Gwendoline Riley and Niven Govinden.

I was struck by one of which quotes “I’m very interested in male friendship. It’s under-represented”. The Carter/Drum bond addresses this dynamic.

Recommend

I enjoyed this book very much. It is not a light read, it’s a lengthy book (533 pages) and by the end there’s a strong drive to return to the start and begin again to tune into the subtleties and nuances buried in the text. In other words there are unanswered questions, and ambiguities that are contained in the flashbacks and jumps between families. There’s a lot going on and stitching it all together is not an easy undertaking. Read this book slowly and deliberately!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was something very compelling about the writing that kept me reading this one. Carter and Drummond met and became friends at 'Doomtown', a training center that simulates the aftermath of an atomic war. Carter is wealthy and privileged; Drummond was working-class. This book follows their inter-related lives through some major global crises - the Cuban missile crisis, bombings by the IRA, ISIS, and more - that could have spawned a nuclear threat. There are also family dramas playing out in the friends' families.

The writing is descriptive and atmospheric. It was so well written it kept me entranced, and even though there is not a lot of action most of the time, the story moved well in my opinion. The family dynamics were the best part for me.

Thanks to W. W. Norton & Company through Netgalley for an advance copy.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of a long-lasting friendship between two men, Drummond Moore and James Carter, who meet during their military service. They bond over shared experiences at Doom Town, a civil defense center that simulates situations related to nuclear war. They are from different classes and backgrounds. Drum works in a Ford factory near London. Carter is a wealthy landowner in northwest England. We follow their long-lasting friendship, relationships, marriages, and children from the late 1950s to the 2010s.

The plot is structured around worldwide events that induce fear, showing that just as one subsides, another takes over. The international events remain in the background, with the focus on the characters and their reactions. Evers brings fear down to the individual level. Carter and Drum plan to set up a bunker and stock it with end-of-civilization supplies. One of Drum’s primary motivations is keeping his family safe.

It is a slowly developing narrative. I enjoyed the literary writing style. The dialogue is particularly effective, though the prose is choppy in places. I appreciated the fictional news articles, inserted sporadically, that provide context for worldwide incidents and illuminate the characters’ stories from another perspective.

The premise of this book caught my attention. Evers examines fear, how it can permeate decisions, and the resulting harm to those we seek to protect. It seems like a pertinent topic for our times.

I received an advance reader’s copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stuart Evers’ latest novel is an ambitious and sprawling saga spanning 60 years, a tale of friendship, class and family, underpinned by fear of the threat of nuclear destruction. In 1959, working class Drummond Moore and upper-class James Carter meet while doing their national service at Doom Town, a nuclear training ground in Cumbria. Here servicemen could go to learn about survival after a nuclear war, something envisioned as a very real danger at the time. There develops a mutual dependency between them which carries on after they leave the service, in spite of their class difference, and their lives become inextricably linked. The cold war theme and the threat of potential nuclear annihilation is a potent idea, and its effect on the characters in the novel makes for some interesting reading, but overall the novel didn’t work for me. There were too many inconsistencies in the characters’ behaviour which left too many unanswered questions. I don’t want to give too much away, but at one point there is an estrangement that lingers on down the years, and yet is never fully explored, key though it is to the plot. I didn’t find any of the characters sympathetic. Carter in particular is most unattractive and unpleasant and the book never fully explores why Drummond is so in thrall to him. The women are portrayed quite stereotypically especially Daphne, Carter’s wife, and the sub-plot of Drummond’s son’s sexuality is unnecessary to the plot while some scenes are both superfluous and distasteful. Neither of the men seems to pay any attention to how their attitudes and actions affect their children even when everything starts to crumble around them. Stylistically, Evers’ overworked quirks grated after a while, with his habit of writing in disjointed sentences and phrases, a mannered style which detracted from the narrative flow. I enjoyed the book up to a point, and found it readable enough, but I simply couldn’t buy into how much this seminal experience in Doom Town could carry on overshadowing their lives when so many other world events came along to displace it. An unconvincing and unsatisfying read overall.

[Deanne Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not what I was expecting it to be. Sorry I could not get into the story or finish it.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In contention for my Book of the Year, and it’s only March! ‘The Blind Light’ by Stuart Evers is a novel that I was sad to finish. The writer presents recent history intelligently yet with a light touch through the eyes of the Moores and the Carters, two very different families drawn together through their fathers’ friendship. Drum and Carter first meet in the 1950s during National Service, the former quietly rescuing the latter from a gambling blunder. After a spell in Doom Town, the army manufactured post-apocalyptic town where the soldiers carry out ‘rescue’ practice, and a place which haunts both men for decades to come, they return to ordinary life. Drum once again is a cog in the wheel of the Ford factory line in Dagenham. Carter drifts into one of the ‘jobs for the boys’, his class and his money making life easy. Drum marries Gwen; Carter marries Daphne; both couples have children; both seem set on different paths.
However, Carter offers Drum an escape from the Dagenham strikes, the pollution and the gathering hopelessness when he offers him the chance to run a dairy farm that adjoins his country estate. When the Moores move North, all seems well for a time. Surprisingly, the wives become friends. Nevertheless, these bonds do not transfer to the younger generation and the fallout after an extraordinary event is both painful and life-changing for the Moores.
‘The Blind Light’ encourages the reader to think about how certain domestic and international episodes can affect individuals in a way that is both personal and universal. Nevertheless, the real strength of this novel is the meticulous way in which Evers explores family relationships and, in particular, parenting. What makes people as they are? What binds them and undoes them? What engenders loyalty and what encourages duplicity? Nothing is simple yet absolutes are recognised.
Nearing the end of her life, Gwen has a moment of clarity: ‘She is looking at her children and she sees them both safe and free.’ She no longer dwells on unjust words, ill-judged actions, or sacrifices made. There is a suggestion that these simple adjectives are to be treasured, never more than in our own unsettled times. Evers constructs a tough world but one that is ultimately full of light.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Picador for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very sad book. It gave me sad dreams. It's about longing, love, lost relationships, and blind terror, the kind you live with for years.

Drum and Carter meet in 1959 while they are doing National Service. They could not be more different. Drum's a working class guy who worked in a Ford plan near London, and Carter is a wealthy kid just expelled from Oxford. They become friends, and that friendship lasts their lives.

It's not an easy or an even friendship. Carter gets them assigned to a civil defence base called Doom Town, which is made to look like a city after an atomic bomb has landed on it. For Drum, the nightmare of nuclear apocalypse follows him forever, through the Cuban Missile Crisis , 9/11, and the London bombings. He's terrified of what's to come.

"The Blind Light" is not an easy read. The characters are flawed, sad and frightened. You'll wish Drum would drop Carter, but then you realize that he sees Carter as embodying safety.

There is some satisfaction in the relationships at the end, but overall this book is just sad. I never considered not finishing it, but it made me, who ducked and covered under a desk as a tiny child, happy that I was too young to remember more.

3.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this title.

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this was an epic read!

The story centres around Drum from his National Service in the 1950s to the end of his life some 50 years later. Drum's National Service is spent in Doom Town, a mocked up town scenario of the effect of a nuclear strike; these experiences stick with Drum for the rest of his life, continually causing him anxiety and altering his life decisions.

Married to Gwen, and with a son and a daughter, Drum's life remains tied to his service years, with his friend (note it's a very subservient relationship) Carter - much richer and more privileged - influencing Drum throughout his life.

The characters and their interactions are beautifully written; be prepared to spend a lot of time with this book, it is long but it is epic - once the characters grip you, you'll be loathe to put it down. Stuart Evers captures contemporary and near-contemporary issues in such an intimate and emotional way that you'll be sorry when the book ends. It's a story about one family, but also a story about our nation.

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a strong contender for my favourite book of 2021 so far. I absolutely loved this story and the characters and felt fully invested in the ups and downs of their lives.

The book covers many years from the late 1950s to the present day, opening with the early days of the relationship between Drummond, who is based at an army training centre to prepare for nuclear war, and Gwen, who is working as a barmaid nearby. From the early origins of their love affair across the years as they raise a family and relocate to the countryside, the book details how political events impact their marriage, friendships and their children Anneka and Nate.

Every character in this book was believable, well developed and had their own journey throughout the story. I was really impressed with how the book balanced all these stories so well and explored how the issues faced by each character impacted on those around them. The political context was fantastic too and was used to brilliant effect to explain the motivations and behaviours of the characters over the years.

This is a story and a family that will stay with me for a long time and definitely a book I will want to revisit many times in the future. I found it completely captivating and immersive. An all-time new favourite.

Thank you to Readers First for the copy of this book.

[Lorilin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely novel. Maybe a touch too long, but I sure did fall in love with these characters. The story is melancholy...but also sweet—a thoughtful examination of friendship, jealousy, love, disappointment, and loyalty. Know that you’ll need to take your time with this one, but your efforts will be rewarded.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate when this happens, I really do but I could not finish this book. To many great reads to get through and to little time. I found the story line of this book fairly drab. Along with the fragmented sentences and disjointed plot I just could not bare it any longer.

Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton Company for the opportunity to review this arc.

[Fazila · Rating 2 out of 5]

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TRIGGER WARNINGS : Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Battery.

DISCLAIMER : Thank you, Netgalley, Picador and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Blind Light by Stuart Evers is a historical/literary fiction that tells us the story of Drum, Gwen, and their family. We go from 50s to the present following our characters through life-changing events that shape their lives. The story revolves mainly around Drum and Gwen and their kids Nathan and Anneka. Their story is intertwined with Carter, Drum's friend from the service. The book is about their lives, how global events, atomic attacks, family, and relationships bring people together and how they break them apart. Carter and Drum meet during his time at the National Service as they prepare for the aftermath of the Atomic Strike. The two become fast friends and decide to protect their families from the atomic strike by staying in the underground bunker with all the facilities to sustain them. The time in the military leaves Drummond with damages that are far deeper, and traumatic than anything he expected. Fear of death and the impact of the global events that deeply affect personal lives certainly takes center stage in driving the narrative of Drum's life forward. Gwen on the other hand a from being a barmaid to the wife of a deeply traumatized Drum takes us through a rather tremulous marriage and motherhood. The heavy-handed parenting, lack of trust, and deep-seated emotional baggage all lead up to promises made and promises broken in this slow-paced literary style story.

Overall, my experience with this book is it was a depressing read and left me sad and gloomy. For me to enjoy a book thoroughly I need to feel connected to the characters and be invested in their journey when it comes to historical/literary style fiction. If not this then I want to be able to understand them and neither of these happened to me with The Blind Light. So I am saying this with a heavy heart that this book wasn't a hit for me. I wish I had a great time reading it and connecting with it, but unfortunately, that's not the case. I gave the book 2 stars. Just because the story didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for you. I still think you should check it out for yourselves and see what you think. I would recommend this book if you are into long, slow-paced stories that take on a tumultuous journey through the ups and downs of life, friendships, marriage, and parenting.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the premise of this novel to be compelling (threat of nuclear war and its effect on those living with it) but the writing was so disjointed in so many places that it simply was not an enjoyable read for me. I didn't care about the characters, thought none of them acted consistently within the parameters they were created in. Especially annoying to me were the frequent paragraphs of sentence fragments or repeated phrases that didn't add to the narrative.

Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the ARC to read and review.

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gah, another book that didn't require a 500+ page count to tell its story - this in my opinion of course. Normally I adore a good chunky book, but lately this year most of these tomes have failed to leave a lasting mark on me.

This is a good story, it's a little oblique, or vague, if that's a better term/word to use....but my desire to see this story advance was always thwarted because of its endless pages.

Is it me? Am I burning out and needing a break or something? I am growing desperate for that gorgeous, knock me off my chair kind of read right now. I thought this would be the one to help with that, unfortunately it wasn't.

[Clarisa Rucabado Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two men, Drum (Drummond Moore, a worker from the Ford plant in Dagenham) and Carter (James Carter, an upper-middle class student sent down from Oxford), met in the 50s doing their National Service. The novel follows their lives marked first by the Cold War and other historical developments that will shape their relationship and lives for several decades... The story is told from the point of view of Drum and his family (wife and two children) and counterpointed by Carter´s parallel own family.

This is a story that deals with class, work, expectations, friendship, love, material interest etc in the UK in an ambitious and interesting way. The novel starts positing a mystery of action which will pique our curiosity and make the reading of the story not exactly a puzzle but an unavoidable interrogation: I questioned every event in relation to that beginning. The very particular style of the writing (a third person omniscient staccato voice effectively a sort of each of the main characters´ ´interior monologue, intersected with realistic dialogues) grew on me as a reader and I appreciated the elliptical, short-hand style which allowed compression of events, reflection and description in a very particular and to my mind beautiful prose, into an also believable timespan.

The Blind Light of the title resolves itself in many ways, from the ¨Doomtown¨ of the nuclear training facility to other more familiar instances to do with love, parenthood, friendship and, of course, death and-or the fear of death. Books are also a leitmotif throughout the novel (another added pleasure!) and their role is often humorous.

All in all, a rather ambitious novel full of interesting elements of form and content, that kept me reading and thinking about very human issues.

Thank you to Picador via NetGalley for an APC of this book.

[Linden · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1959 two soldiers become friends at a training center that simulates the aftermath of an atomic war. Their families become neighbors and there's an underlying fear of "the bomb." The story follows the families through to the present, told from the point of view of all four members of one family, and with a crackerjack ending.

[Kate Vane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting enough to keep me reading till the end, but not enough to stop me resenting the time I gave to it. It has a great premise but the events, with one or two exceptions, are unsurprising. The secondary characters are well drawn but Drum and Carter feel two-dimensional and the author doesn't do enough to explain the extraordinary hold they have on each other.

Still, there's a strong sense of period and place and the prose is beautifully rendered, even if there is far too much of it.
*
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told mainly from the perspectives of Drum, Gwen, and later Anneka and Nate, this hugely ambitious and engaging story managed to combine the intensity of the intimate, complex relationships between the various characters with evocative portrayals of the external events which were influencing their lives. I was impressed by the convincing way in which the author captured how the co-dependency of the unlikely, unbalanced and frequently toxic nature of the relationship between Drum and Carter was forged during their shared experiences of National Service and ‘Doom City’. How the promises made then, and honed over the years as each of them held the other to account, could never quite be broken, even when reneging on them was a clear temptation. Their relationship was central not only to how the story developed, but to the shifting dynamics between the two families over the decades, especially the relationship between the two wives. I found all the characters totally convincing, with each providing an essential ‘key’ to the veracity of the unfolding story – although it’s hard to give examples of this without revealing information which needs to be discovered incrementally!
The impact on both men of the time spent at ‘Doom City’, and the military exercises dealing with the mocked-up aftermath of a post-nuclear attack, has a lasting effect. However, Drum’s obsessive fear about the possibility of a nuclear war and whether he’d be able to protect his family, not only seriously affects his own mental health but inflicts a different sort of damage on his relationships with his wife and his children. In the following six decades there are numerous examples of threats to national and global security (eg, Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, IRA bombing campaigns, 9/11, terrorist attacks, suicide bombers etc) which provide fuel to feed his fears and, even when he’s able to intellectually recognise that his behaviour is dysfunctional, damaging to himself and to the people he loves, he’s unable to prevent himself from catastrophizing. I found the psychological integrity of the author’s depiction of how this crippling anxiety affected Drum, and those around him, very impressive.
Having lived through each of the decades this story covered, one of the reasons this was such an engrossing and thought-provoking story to read was because the author made such effective use of his research to distil an authentic ‘essence’ of each one. References to books, music, television programmes etc were interwoven with the major political and social changes which took place during this period of recent history, meaning that throughout my reading I felt thrust back into each era, able to recognise, and identify with, many of the issues the characters were struggling with … as a child growing up in the 50s, I had nightmares following training exercises at school about ‘what to do in the event of a nuclear war …’!
I think one of the reasons I could hardly bear to put this 533-page novel down was because of the author’s wonderful use of language to evoke not only a convincing sense of time and place, but to enable me to understand his characters in what felt like a very intimate way. One of the ways in which he did this was by allowing me to become privy to their inner reflections through their streams of consciousness as they explored different ideas, scenarios, consequences etc. Ignoring conventional rules of syntax, these disjointed ‘meanderings’ were often quite short, but I found they added layers of depth to each of the main characters, enabling me to ‘hear’ their distinctive voices. However, much as I enjoyed them, I suspect that some readers would be irritated by these sections!
In many ways this is a dark and disturbing story but it’s not one which is without moments of humour and glimmers of light, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to readers who appreciate complex, multi-layered, and thought-provoking novels.
With my thanks to the publisher and Readers First for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Mary Lins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The words “Blind Light” can refer to falling in love at first sight, or the flash of a nuclear explosion, or the light the dying see as they pass this life. It’s a perfect title for this wonderful, moving, unforgettable novel.

“The Blind Light”, by Stuart Evers, tells the compelling and complex story of two men in an unlikely friendship, spanning three generations, and asks: what can fear make you do?
I have read many many books set in England about both World Wars, but this is the first I’ve read that is set during the Cold War, and I found it utterly fascinating. I was very young at the time, but I do recall the Cuban Missile Crisis, backyard bomb shelters, and bomb “drills” in my elementary school. But I can also imagine that the threat in Europe was viewed differently than here in the US, as they were literally “between” Kennedy and Khrushchev during those tense days in the Autumn of 1962.

In the late 1950s, fellow soldiers, Drum and Carter, are sent to train in “Doom Town”, an area in rural England set up to simulate a town right after a nuclear attack. Soldiers train there on how to look for survivors after an atomic bomb strike. The Doom Town simulations are disturbingly real. The men move on with their lives, but the experience sets Drum and Carter up for future of panic and reaction.

This beautifully written novel captures the tensions surrounding the Cold War and how the effects of this heightened sense of “existential doom” influenced Drum and Carter, and their families; all captivating characters. We follow these character for 60 years; Stuart Evers made me care about them all, thus it was hard to turn the last page.

[Rachel Shields Ebersole · Rating 2 out of 5]

An excellent writer, but out of 6 main characters I liked only 1 and actively disliked the others. About 2/3 through, it got "gritty," which is one of my least favorite literary qualities. I did find it interesting to contemplate how fear of The Bomb might shape a family history. And there were lots of beautifully turned phrases and evocative descriptions.

[Marc Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVEhU...

[Margot · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 What could have been a great family saga, Blind Light is crowded with so many writing techniques, (repetition, steam of consciousness) that the plot becomes hijacked. I really enjoyed learning about the fear the post war generation experienced in regards to nuclear destruction and Evers did a good job with his characters in that regard. The complex male friendship between Drum and Carter is the best part of the book. The novel felt overworked and Evers consistently sticks in rather distasteful short scenes that are totally unnecessary to the story. All in all, if the book was not over 500 pages, I might have rated it higher, but by the end I was exhausted and glad it was over. I don't think Blind Light would have enough overall appeal to make it a good book club choice and I suspect this one will get higher marks from professional reviews than from average readers.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific novel. Spans the lives of the polar opposite privileged Carter and working class Moore families. The men meet during National Service in 1959 when they train in ‘Doom Town’ to deal with a post-nuclear attack. The experience bonds them for life and they become neighbours when Drum Moore, now married to Gwen with their baby daughter Anneka dash from London to The Lakes to escape possible fall out from The Cuban Missile Crisis. The Moores run the dairy farm attached to Carter’s palatial family home.
Some huge national and international themes provide a wide-ranging context. Class, The Cold War, Dagenham Ford strikes, the Rave culture are presented through the intimate perspective of family life which brings its own dramas as children grow up, have children of their own and ultimately, by 2019, become the central characters.
Evers is an engaging and accomplished writer, whose insights into human nature and behaviour make even the minor characters entirely convincing as they are developed through a huge range of life experiences. And we are made to recognise the importance and significance of friendship and family ties no matter what is threatening in the wider world.
Very grateful to #NetGalley and #Picador for my pre-release digital download. And for introducing me to a new ‘must read more’ writer.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book starts in 1959 at a base called “Doomtown”. It is a training area that is set to look like the aftermath of an atomic strike. We watch a very unusual friendship grow- Drummon is working-class, Carter is from a privileged background. With this military training background, and the Cuban Missile Crisis underway, these two become fixated on their survival in a bomb shelter built at the estate of Carter’s home.

This book was all over the place. The author did a great job portraying these men as a bit psycho and their lives huge train wrecks. I kept going back to Goodreads to see what others thought in order to decide if it was worth my time to finish. I made it all the way to 65% and decided it really was not worth my time or brain power. While the topic of nuclear warfare is certainly still pertinent to our day, I just could not care about these characters or the awful decisions they and their family members made. Didn’t see anything redeeming at all. Did not finish.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

[Chasidy Kaye Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thanks to @NetGalley for the ARC.
I'm sorry to say I cannot get into this book. I am unable to finish it as I cannot even finish the 2nd chapter. It's just very boring for me.

[Simon Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d read some of Stuart Evers’ short stories, which I really enjoyed, so I’d looked forward to reading this. But it took me a while to finish this unwieldy tank of a novel as it meandered, lumbered and lurched, with an occasional burst of action, before finally grinding to a halt. I found the characters all fairly unlikeable and am generally unsure what it’s all about.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that is difficult to rate. I rate it 5 stars for writing quality and construction but reduced it to 3 stars based on my personal experience and enjoyment while reading it. The Blind Light is an ambitious novel that spans many years and covers complicated relationships. The friendship between Drum and Carter is at the center of the novel but the story extends to their marriages, their children and to the parent-child relationships as well. The connection and re-connection of different characters (living and deceased) make this an interesting read. I compliment Evers on his writing and the weaving between past and present which is masterfully done. There are a lot of themes and topics explored in the novel but the broken child/parent relationship is really sad. It was also hard for me to embrace and understand. Even though Drum was an overbearing parent, he was also loving; this situation seems to exist often in real life and the relationship can still endure and continue in some way with love coming through. The complete break in Anneka and Drum's relationship was tragic and hard to accept. It seems like forgiveness comes from love and love would carry them through to some new understanding. Clearly this wasn't possible for them, but from the text of the novel I didn't see this, since the love shines through in her childhood memories. Another relationship that gave me pause is that of Gwen and Ray. From the pages describing their friendship, I did not pick up on a connection that would last throughout their lives. Nate is also an interesting character - exploring his sexuality and identity while working with his father. His character goes through a lot of change but he stays close to his parents throughout. There is so much to this book and a lot of relationships can be discussed. It would make a great book club selection. I admired the writing and the scope of the novel but maybe because I didn't relate to any particular character, or feel a deep connection to anyone, I couldn't enjoy it more.