When the Lights Go Out is an honest tale - looking at all the minor irritations and celebrations that can be found in everyday life.

It closely examines the frustrations of life, family and marriage - navigating life whilst always remaining mindful of everyone's differing beliefs, opinions and realities.

Funny, sad, honest and little bit refreshing.

3 stars ⭐⭐⭐

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Eco-fiction is a new-to-me genre and one that I have found works with varying degrees of success.

There’s no denying that climate change and emergencies are already here: wildfires, flooding, typhoons and unprecedented weather mood swings are a regular occurrence. When the Lights Go Out tells the story of Chris and Emma, a married couple living on the site of an ancient waterbank. It simultaneously deals with the ecosystem of a marriage and of their immediate surroundings, a deeply human look at relationships in the face of disaster on many levels. Chris is preparing for climate disaster; Emma is optimistic and ready to rally. This novel looks at how necessary and fragile both can be.

Super unusual novel about climate anxiety, I found this fascinating in how it looked at climate change but also was ultimately a story of a marriage breakdown, that felt so real and normal as well as incredibly emotional. Would love to read more from this author.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Overall I really struggled to connect with the characters in this story, the atmosphere was right for a climate-lit novel, sense of impending doom - check, biblical weather events - check, preparation for the apocalypse - check, at least one family member being seriously affected in particular their mental health - check, I could go on however I found it almost comical in parts and I don’t think that was intentional.

3.5 stars

In the north of England on a piece of reclaimed land near the coast live Emma and Chris and their teenage sons Dylan and James. The rain is relentless and they can see the impact of climate change every year. Crops are failing and Chris's gardening business has faltered as people's gardens become waterlogged. Emma tries to do her bit, she's vegetarian and tries to reduce, reuse and recycle wherever she can. Chris finds her minor efforts frustrating as he focuses obsessively on the coming disaster, buying survivalist courses, stockpiling animal medicines for when pharmaceutical supplies fail, buying rabbits to breed for meat. and constantly haranguing and testing his family.

Carys Bray has written a clever subversion of the cli-fi genre here, focusing not on the disintegration of society after a catastrophic event but on the impact of slow deterioration of familiar things and the constant worry and loss of hope of climate anxiety, the different ways that the present and the future can impact on one another. There's an interesting consideration of faith and hope and it's an engaging read and the relationships between the family, especially when Chris's deeply Christian widowed mother comes to stay. unearthing old wounds from his strict, religious upbringing. It's a slow burn and seems to take a while to hit its stride but as its direction becomes clearer you can see that the structure and pace are a deliberate and effective choice by the author.

This book is brilliantly written. It’s very bleak but there is also humour in the pages.
The characters are amazing and the family dynamics are great.
A good book

I was unable to complete this story. Not one for me unfortunately. I just could not get invested in the characters and as such I had to DNF. Maybe others will enjoy it.

Failed to connect with this book... Could've been the writing style - I felt it said a lot, used a lot of words which, albeit beautiful in their prose, didn't really say much and thus didn't deliver on any plot progression. Could be I'm just more used to fast-paced plots, but found this one way too slow with nothing happening throughout much of it

There are some books that just based on the subject you know are going to be right up your street. For me, "When the Lights Go Out" certainly appeared to be one of them.
This novel is set in a possible very near future and develops the links between religion, family and environmentalism – where all three can evolve into obsessions and the tensions exposed where they converge.

The author does a good job of showing that shared experience can sometimes not be enough to bind relationships together, and that sometimes, what can become vital to one can appear as obsession to another.

However, that is really just the overarching theme, in reality, it is less about these elements and is basically a story of a family going through a bit of a rough patch – religion and the environment are just baggage carried by the protagonists. It could equally have been about home and work and kids – ordinary, everyday preoccupations – but it is this less-usual lens of fundamentalism, in both religion and the environment, used to illuminate the relationships in this novel which lifts "When the Lights Go Out" above the inundation of very ordinary novels.

Just finished this amazing book by Carys Bray. I loved her first book, A Song for Issy Bradley so much.

It’s raining, and it has been for days. While Emma Abram prepares for Christmas, her husband Chris frets about starvation and societal collapse. Desperate times call for desperate measures, including hoarding of food supplies and Chris periodically turning off the electricity to ensure his family don’t become too reliant upon it. He has other plans that, if voiced, Emma would surely veto. But it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Emma longs to lower a rope and winch Chris from the pit of his worries. But he doesn't want to be rescued or even reassured - he wants to pull her in after him.

Clever, worrying, funny (Emma’s children are great characters providing light relief) and heartbreaking. Highly recommended.

Sorry I just couldn't get in to this book, the main characters just weren't very likeable.

Thank you for the copy.

This is not the type of book I would usually read buy something drew me to it. It's how a marriage is between two people with very different outlooks. It shows a man who is struggling, struggling to feel at all and the effect that can have on his family. Its not as doom and gloom as it may sound. It wasn't my favourite book but readable

The nuances of the relationship between Emma and chris had me hooked. A brilliant read, I loved this and the writing swept me along. Very of the moment, focusing on climate change and eco disasters, whilst set amongst the everyday of a relationship that is tired.

I’m a huge fan of Carys Bray’s writing so this has been one of my eagerly anticipated reads and I’m so pleased to say that it more than lived up to my hopes for it. This book follows Emma and her husband Chris. Emma wants to live a simple, happy life but Chris is obsessed with climate change and stockpiling for the end of days. Emma tries to be patient but it’s driving her mad, and Chris just can’t see beyond his own fears for what he believes is coming for them. The couple can’t communicate well with each other anymore and the situation becomes more and more tense. There is a sense of foreboding running right through this novel and so I knew something was going to happen but the ending was shocking. This is a brilliant novel that explores what it is to be married to someone with different ideals to yourself, and what happens when the ability to see each other’s point of view is lost. I loved this book and I recommend it!

brilliantly funny, witty, with all the ache and nuance of being in and old tired marriage and then add the threat of an echo disaster and you've got literally gold, laughed a lot and completed related to these lovable and sometimes infuriating characters.
thank you to Netgalley and Cornerstone for the ARC and of course thank you to Carys Bray for knowing humans well and make us laugh about it.

Told from the perspectives of Emma and her husband Chris, this is an engrossing exploration of the effects of climate change. Changes in weather (it seems to be permanently raining) affect their immediate and wider physical environment, and in turn Emma and Chris are affected in very different ways psychologically. Chris becomes obsessed with stockpiling supplies and gaining skills (recruiting their sons in his exploits) for a doomsday worst case scenario whilst Emma tries to live a better life on a small scale. Chris’s past contributes as much as his present, and the story peaks with a crisis, but not one that anyone planned for. I found Emma’s extreme tolerance intriguing!

This is a very timely seasonal offering that made me realise how much we need to cherish our family life and traditions in times of hardship.
Christmas is looming with far more than the usual tensions, as family harmony is put to the test when pessimist Chris clashes with his ever-the-optimist wife Emma.
Chris is preparing for a coming apocalypse whilst Emma is trying to hold it all together for the sake of the festivities. The atmosphere of doom is low key but this makes the dystopian scenario all the more believable - the ‘End of the World’ with a whimper rather than a bang.

The way this book was written made me feel nothing was happening - until I realised I was gripped to find out what did go on. Chris has had a strict religious upbringing with a father whose frustration at the loss of his farm led him to a very strong fundamental christian belief which he imposed on his family. Chris has spent his life rebelling but has clearly inherited his dad's obsessive nature as his worry over climate change and its effect on the world. has completely taken over his life. His wife Emma is trying to maintain normal family life and their relationship, but Chris seems determined to sabotage this. As christmas draws nearer, things become more difficult with Chris's very difficult widowed mother Janet having to move in with them owing to a leak in her caravan. Emma and her two teenage sons cope very well with this imposition. Janet's husband's religious views had rubbed off on her too and she really isn't an easy person to live with. Things come to a head on Christmas Eve and the fall out is tremendous. We see how many small actions lead to a devastating outcome. It's not easy to pinpoint which one action led to the conclusion. A strange read I found, and I almost gave up on it a couple of times. I was glad I hadn't and it did make me think about current issues. #netgalley #WhenTheLightsGoOut

When the Lights Go Out is not just about climate change and the disaster that we seem to be hurtling towards. It’s also about a marriage: Emma and Chris’ marriage. I seem to be having a really good run with books lately. This is a book where not overly much happens on the surface, but it’s packed full of action if you look at the way that it’s scrutinising Emma and Chris’ marriage. These are two people who have a lot going on. They have both been pushed to their limits, and whilst Emma seems to be dealing with the changes in her life, Chris is really struggling. He is constantly plagued by thoughts of ‘worst case scenarios’. He stockpiles food and fuel in the garage, he buys fish antibiotics just in case the human version is unobtainable. And he tests his family’s resourcefulness by turning off the electricity in their home to make sure they can cope - and leads them to believe it’s a power cut. Chris is unhappy. Work is very slow - no one needs a gardener if it rains non-stop and the garden is submerged, or if it gets so hot that nothing survives to tend to. Money is tight since Emma lost her job when the library where she worked closed, and she works part time in a school, supplementing her income with her craft work.

Everything comes to a dramatic head on Christmas Eve - and I don’t think I was capable of breathing properly for the last couple of chapters.

This sounds like a morose, depressing read, but it really wasn’t. There are some really quite funny bits interspersed with the more serious aspects - I thought it was really well balanced, and I loved reading it.