Reader Score
87%
87% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 4 reviews on
Set in the near future, this hopeful story of survival and resilience follows Wanda--a luminous child born out of a devastating hurricane--as she navigates a rapidly changing world: A "symphony of beauty and heartbreak" (Associated Press).
USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
A Good Morning America Book Club pick - #1 Indie Next pick - LibraryReads pick - Book of the Month Club selection - Marie Claire #ReadWithMC book club selection - 2022 NPR "Book We Love" - New York Times Editors' Choice
Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state's infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.
Told in four parts--power, water, light, and time--The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
"The real genius of “The Light Pirate” lies in the gentleness with which Brooks-Dalton treats her characters, who could easily have been one-note stereotypes in the hands of a less-skilled author."
Chris Bohjalian is a writer.
It’s Monday. I am really enjoying THE LIGHT PIRATE by #lilybrooksdalton. Hurricanes and dread make for a great novel.
""The Light Pirate" is a symphony of beauty and heartbreak, survival and loneliness. Combined, it's a haunting melody of nature."
"Feels like a small miracle: a book about a world wrecked by climate change that manages to be full of warmth and compassion . . . The real genius of The Light Pirate lies in the gentleness with which Brooks-Dalton treats her characters . . . Proof that climate fiction is maturing, producing works that are both nuanced and nourishing."
--Washington Post, Charlie Jane Anders"A formidable young woman's coming-of-age . . . Brooks-Dalton creates an all-too-believable picture of nature reclaiming Florida from its human inhabitants, and her complex and engaging characters make climate disaster a vividly individual experience rather than an abstract subject of debate."
--Kirkus, Starred Review"Lily Brooks-Dalton is an uncanny chronicler of desolate spaces, whether it's the cold expanse of the universe or the deepest recesses of the human heart."--Colson Whitehead, New York Times bestselling author
"Lily Brooks-Dalton is wonderful, fresh on the scene with a big heart, a fierce spirit, a writer's eye, and a lovely sense of humor."--Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author