How the Light Gets In

by Maria Hyland (Author), Maria Hyland (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $3.25

  This is a powerful debut from an Australian novelist that features one of the most likeable but contrary figures you are likely to meet in contemporary fiction. Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. When she is offered an exchange student placement at a school in America it seems as if her dreams will be fulfilled. Her host family has a beautiful house in Illinois and couldn't be more welcoming ...until she starts to be distubed by the suffocating and repressed atmosphere of their suburban mansion and things begin to go terribly wrong. How the Light Gets In is an acutely observed story of adolescence, reminiscent of American Beauty in its dissection of engrained prejudices and middle-class hypocrisy. In Lou Connor, Hyland has created a larger-than-life protagonist who mesmerises the reader with her vivacity and vulnerability, from hopeful beginning to unexpected, haunting end.

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $5.08

  Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. And when she is offered a place as an exchange student at a college in America it seems as if her dreams are going to be fulfilled. Her host-family, the Hardings, has a large and beautiful house in Illinois and couldn't be more welcoming. Everything is perfect. Until she starts having to live in the suffocating and repressed atmosphere of the Harding's suburban mansion and things start to go terribly wrong. How the Light Gets In is an acutely observed story of adolescence and one that in many respects brings to mind American Beauty in its dissection of engrained prejudices and middle class hypocrisy. And in Lou Connor, M.J. Hyland has created a larger than life protagonist who mesmerises the reader with her vivacity and vulnerability, from hopeful beginning to unexpected, haunting end.

• New

  Paperback
  2005

  $10.18

  This is a powerful debut from an Australian novelist that features one of the most likeable but contrary figures you are likely to meet in contemporary fiction. Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. When she is offered an exchange student placement at a school in America it seems as if her dreams will be fulfilled. Her host family has a beautiful house in Illinois and couldn't be more welcoming ...until she starts to be distubed by the suffocating and repressed atmosphere of their suburban mansion and things begin to go terribly wrong. How the Light Gets In is an acutely observed story of adolescence, reminiscent of American Beauty in its dissection of engrained prejudices and middle-class hypocrisy. In Lou Connor, Hyland has created a larger-than-life protagonist who mesmerises the reader with her vivacity and vulnerability, from hopeful beginning to unexpected, haunting end.