Mark Smith, is a sensitive thirty-seven-year-old environmental scientist of mixed race. He tries to come to terms with his mother’s painful death as he goes through the stages of grief. Mark is also reassessing his relationship with his gay twin sister, Maria, a lawyer. After several failed relationships with women in college, Mark, while at his mother’s funeral in Chicago, reconnects with his high school girlfriend, Christy, an artist who paints only self-portraits. He now believes he has finally found true and lasting love, but trouble is brewing. Pulling focus on the cumulative unease and random violence that has gripped American life in recent years, The Glint of Light proves why Clarence Major is one of America’s most beloved novelists.
Book of the Year Selection.
– The New Yorker
“This naturalistic novel follows a Black environmental scientist [Mark Smith]. The story is shaped by several cataclysmic events, which suit the novel’s backdrop, in which the Presidency of Barack Obama corresponds with a rise in white nationalism, though climate crisis and racially charged incidents.”
– The New Yorker
“…The Glint of Light [is] Clarence Major at his best; [it] is a literary event of great importance.”
– Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner
“Clarence Major has written a beautiful book about love, identity, passion, family, and forgiveness. The Glint of Light is a tour de force.”
– Connie May Fowler, author of ‘Before Women had Wings’
“A powerful portrait of midlife with all its contradictions. Brazenly multi-talented Clarence Major is an American treasure.”
– Janet Fitch, author of ‘White Oleander’
“A potent and savvy drama …Clarence Major delivers a fierce, suspenseful, and unsentimental [novel]… you won’t want to put it down!”
– Noley Reid, author of ‘Pretend We Are Lovely’
“The Glint of Life is… gut-wrenching… The result is a hypnotizing tale of the tensions between love, duty and betrayal.”
– Helen Benedict, author of ‘Wolf Season’
“Monumentally moving, The Glint of Light offers a spellbinding view into the nuances of the human experience. This novel beautifully captures the length of a life and tackles the lingering effects of loss, the power of desire and the pull to self-discovery with remarkable acuity. This is an arresting read that is not to be missed.”
– Jennifer Maritza McCauley, author of ‘When Trying to Return Home’
“I couldn’t put The Glint of Light down. [It’s] absorbing and informative…The novel brims with intelligence and insight…The story is uplifting and heartbreaking with some unexpected twists. I highly recommend The Glint of Light.”
– Carol Orange, author of ‘A Discerning Eye’
“With a cast of memorable characters and skillfully drawn background…[this] novel’s authenticity is hard earned. This powerful story of coming to terms with grief will resonate with you long after reading.”
– Elena Gorokhova, the author of ‘A Train to Moscow’
“…Clarence Major brings us a quietly stunning new novel as large in its vision as it is subtle in its unfolding. With elegance and grace, Major paints a portrait of America at a particular historical moment (the Obama years), yet the book’s concerns are timeless, universal: the loss of a mother, the dance of sibling rivalry, the search for love…. Clarence Major brings the full measure of his powers to this Chekhovian tale of love and loss in an extraordinary narrative revealed through the accumulation of keenly observed ordinary detail. The novel is immersive, the story compelling, the characters memorable. The Glint of Light will linger with you long after the book is closed.”
– Rilla Askew, author of ‘Fire in Beulah’
These stories represent the spectrum of joy, loss, and the author’s enduring love for those who can find a balance between them.
