This Shining Life: A Novel
Jun 2021 · Sold by Dial Press
4.0star
1 review
Ebook
336
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About this ebook
A boy struggling to process an unexpected loss believes he has been given a series of clues to the biggest puzzle of all—the meaning of life—in this deeply felt debut novel.
“An exquisitely beautiful and compelling novel about love, loss, and life.”—Rachel Joyce, New York Times bestselling author of Miss Benson’s Beetle
Meet Ollie. He’s eleven years old. He hasn’t yet met a Killer Sudoku he can’t solve, but he finds the world around him difficult. People don’t say what they mean, and he hates being wrong. And now, a sudden tragedy teaches him there is no easy answer to the problem of grief.
When Ollie’s happy-go-lucky father, Rich, dies of brain cancer, his mother, Ruth, has no idea how to keep living, and the entire family is thrown into disarray. The only thing that makes sense to Ollie is the puzzle he’s convinced his father left behind: one gift for each member of the family. If Ollie can find the connection between a pink vase and an old pair of binoculars, then somehow he’ll discover the secret he believes Rich wanted to share with them all: what it means to be alive.
Interweaving the voices of each character in turn, this deeply felt novel paints a portrait of a family learning to come together through the darkest times. This Shining Life is a poignant yet ultimately uplifting meditation on grief, healing, and love.
“An exquisitely beautiful and compelling novel about love, loss, and life.”—Rachel Joyce, New York Times bestselling author of Miss Benson’s Beetle
Meet Ollie. He’s eleven years old. He hasn’t yet met a Killer Sudoku he can’t solve, but he finds the world around him difficult. People don’t say what they mean, and he hates being wrong. And now, a sudden tragedy teaches him there is no easy answer to the problem of grief.
When Ollie’s happy-go-lucky father, Rich, dies of brain cancer, his mother, Ruth, has no idea how to keep living, and the entire family is thrown into disarray. The only thing that makes sense to Ollie is the puzzle he’s convinced his father left behind: one gift for each member of the family. If Ollie can find the connection between a pink vase and an old pair of binoculars, then somehow he’ll discover the secret he believes Rich wanted to share with them all: what it means to be alive.
Interweaving the voices of each character in turn, this deeply felt novel paints a portrait of a family learning to come together through the darkest times. This Shining Life is a poignant yet ultimately uplifting meditation on grief, healing, and love.
Ratings and reviews
4.0
1 review
brf1948
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June 24, 2021
I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Harriet Kline, and Doubleday Random House - Dial Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read This Shining Life of my 0wn volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. This novel looks at life from all angles. I found it both alarming and soothing on a deeply emotional level. Rich is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He will spend his last days visiting with people who love him at the family home - his students from school, his 11-year-old autistic son Ollie, wife Ruth, Sister-in-law (Ruth's sister) Nessa, his folks Marjorie and Gerald, and his wacky mother-in-law Angela but known to friends and family as Angran, thus named by grandson Ollie in his babyhood and taken up by all. They all see Rich and death from very different perspectives, and we go there with them in their own voices. This is one of those novels where you keep inserting yourself into the story. How would I react to this? If this were so-and-so dying what would I do, what would I say? A thought-provoking tale told very well.
About the author
Harriet Kline is an author who also works part-time registering births, deaths, and marriages. Her short stories have won several awards and have been published with Litro, For Books’ Sake, and Short Story Sunday and on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Bristol, England, with her partner and two teenage sons. This Shining Life is her first novel.
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