The Light Pirate
GMA Book Club Selection
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4.2 • 225 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
FINALIST FOR THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE
Set in the near future, this hopeful story of survival and resilience follows Wanda—a luminous child born out of a devastating hurricane—as she navigates a rapidly changing world: A “symphony of beauty and heartbreak” (Associated Press).
USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
A Good Morning America Book Club pick · #1 Indie Next pick · LibraryReads pick · Book of the Month Club selection · Marie Claire #ReadWithMC book club selection · 2022 NPR “Book We Love” · New York Times Editors’ Choice
Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.
Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Set in a near-future Florida, this novel follows one woman’s life as it’s changed by the flood waters reshaping her world. Wanda was named after the catastrophic Florida hurricane that ravaged her home state during her mother’s labor. Now, she must navigate a treacherous landscape that many others have abandoned, relying on her hidden strengths and various friends. Lily Brooks-Dalton’s poetic writing amplifies this intense tale, which takes on the brutal realities of climate change. But The Light Pirate isn’t as bleak as it sounds. In addition to being a dystopian thriller, the story also has a clear-eyed, redemptive side—it celebrates the importance of found family and explores what it might mean to salvage a decent life from the wreckage.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brooks-Dalton (Good Morning, Midnight) tells the gripping if underdeveloped story of a Florida family devastated by a hurricane, with hints of magic and a transformed landscape as the timeline stretches into the near future. Kirby Lowe, a divorced electrical lineman on call to make storm damage repairs, shares custody of his two unruly sons, Lucas, 12, and Flip, eight, while his pregnant second wife, Frida, has a premonition about Wanda, the coming hurricane. During the storm, Frida gives birth, names their daughter after the hurricane, then dies shortly after Kirby returns. Flip also perished in the storm, and a neighbor, a retired teacher named Phyllis, takes baby Wanda under her wing. Later, after Wanda starts school and learns biology from Phyllis, she discovers a magical ability: when she touches the ocean's water, she attracts bioluminescence. Meanwhile, Lucas joins Kirby on line duty as they make repairs after lesser storms and wait for the next big one. Murmurs abound on the compromised Hoover Dike, which, if damaged by another major storm, could unleash catastrophic flooding from Lake Okeechobee. By the end, Brooks-Dalton's vision for what might be includes a radically changed state of Florida. Though the magical elements are unexplained and extraneous, the author sustains a steady pace from one storm to the next. Climate fiction aficionados will eat this up.
Customer Reviews
Okay
Good book but faded into a bland ending.
Excellent
Great read. Emotions all over the place .
Light Pirate Surprises
This book was a surprise. It really made me think. The authors line that closes out Chapter 51, “How quickly it all unraveled”, really made me question what truly lasts in this world and what is just temporary. I realized so many things are the latter, with precious few occupying the former category. This author is a very special kind of writer. She is unique and magical and this book is worth reading. It is unlike anything I’d ever choose to read, it was just there, in my digital library, so I opened it and began to read and couldn’t stop.