Strange is the Light

A childhood game of wild imagination takes a frightening turn in this moving tale of intense friendship, tangled secrets and betrayal from the acclaimed author of Eat the Ones You Love, one of the Sunday Times’s Top Ten Irish Books of 2025.

A childhood game of wild imagination takes a frightening turn in this moving tale of intense friendship, tangled secrets and betrayal from the acclaimed author of Eat the Ones You Love, one of the Sunday Times’s Top Ten Irish Books of 2025. For Daphne McSharry, Valentia Island was a place of joyful childhood holidays: independence, adventure and playing with her beloved friends, Ronan, Leonie and Finn. They returned to one game of their own making year after year, and let their imaginations roam free. But when the game is stolen from them by an outsider, it becomes something dark and strange, forcing Daphne to make a choice with a terrible cost. When tragedy brings her back to the island years later, she and her friends finally have to face the consequences of what she did. Daphne never took her final turn... And there is a debt that must be paid.