The Light Remains
“THE LIGHT REMAINS soars high above the coming-of-age genre with its lyrical evocation of the beautiful but harsh natural world of mid-century South Africa. While her wide-eyed young protagonist learns hard universal truths about teenage love and family secrets, nature in its wisdom carries relentlessly on . . . and the cruelties of apartheid pulse menacingly in the background.” Chris Belden, author of Shriver
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The Light Remains
Against the backdrop of complicated, beautiful South Africa in the 1960s, an epic family saga unfolds.
Eve Hunter has inherited more than her love of the land growing up on her family’s farm in the Lowveld; she’s inherited the family’s sorrow. When her father is electrocuted while building a barn, the tragedy exposes the dark secret that has run beneath her family’s sadness for years.
Eve turns to Jack, her closest friend and neighbour, for comfort. But Jack belongs to her older sister Kate, at least, that’s what their families have always assumed. As Eve and Jack’s bond deepens into something more charged, Eve faces an impossible choice to either honour her family’s expectations or to follow her heart and risk what matters most to her.
Then Kate comes to her with a devastating request that could change everything between them.
The Light Remains is a story about the weight of family loyalty, the price of independence, and the cost of choosing between duty and desire.
This is our first title to be simultaneously published by Catalyst Press.
Samantha Keller lives in Connecticut, in the US, but her heart is in South Africa, where she grew up and was educated. She has published multiple short stories and a children’s picture book, illustrated by her mother, and works as a writing teacher and developmental editor. The Light Remains is her first novel.
“Samantha Keller’s The Light Remains soars high above the coming-of-age genre with its lyrical evocation of the beautiful but harsh natural world of mid-century South Africa. While her wide-eyed young protagonist learns hard universal truths about teenage love and family secrets, nature in its wisdom carries relentlessly on . . . and the cruelties of apartheid pulse menacingly in the background.” Chris Belden, author of Shrive
“Keller’s novel will instantly transport you to a time and place in a way few other books manage to do. And it will move you deeply from the moment you get there.” Mark Winkler, critically acclaimed author of six novels, including most recently The Errors of Dr Browne.
“Poignant, authentic and utterly compelling. The Light Remains holds you until the very last word.” Tanya Farber, multi-award-winning journalist, author and researcher
“I should probably say that I finished devouring your book—I started it and fell in love—the evocation of the landscape, the shocks Eve has to face and how she navigates them, the surprise of her gift to her sister—her many gifts—the blurring of religion, earth, and native beliefs–and so much more. It’s a *beautiful* book.” Laurel Petersen, poet, writer English academic, Connecticut
