The Naked Light

Above the village of Haltington, a chalk face carved into the hillside is rumoured to protect the locals from malevolent spirits. So long as it is maintained by a local family, all will be well. But the First World War has decimated the men of the village, and when Aggie Bone dies not long after her sons are killed in battle, her cottage is left empty. There is nobody to tend to the upkeep of the Face. Still, it’s only an old wives’ tale. Isn’t it?Florence has come to live with her widowed brother-in-law and her rebellious teenaged niece. In the wake of the war it seems unlikely she will marry, and she has resigned herself to spinsterhood – until she sees a man’s shirts flapping on the line outside the newly-leased Bone cottage. Could a husband have landed on her doorstep, and is that what she really wants?Kit is an artist – unconventional, androgynous and traumatised by the events of the war. She seeks peace, and a muse, in Haltington; but under the chalk, something is stirring…From the #1 bestselling author of THE BINDING, this is a dark, compelling and deeply moving novel about grief, identity and forbidden desires.

Above the village of Haltington, a chalk face carved into the hillside is rumoured to protect the locals from malevolent spirits. So long as it is maintained by a local family, all will be well. But the First World War has decimated the men of the village, and when Aggie Bone dies not long after her sons are killed in battle, her cottage is left empty. There is nobody to tend to the upkeep of the Face. Still, it's only an old wives' tale. Isn't it?Florence has come to live with her widowed brother-in-law and her rebellious teenaged niece. In the wake of the war it seems unlikely she will marry, and she has resigned herself to spinsterhood - until she sees a man's shirts flapping on the line outside the newly-leased Bone cottage. Could a husband have landed on her doorstep, and is that what she really wants?Kit is an artist - unconventional, androgynous and traumatised by the events of the war. She seeks peace, and a muse, in Haltington; but under the chalk, something is stirring...From the #1 bestselling author of THE BINDING, this is a dark, compelling and deeply moving novel about grief, identity and forbidden desires.