I will read anything Megan Hunter writes. The Harpy and The End We Start From are two recent favorites, and Hunter’s latest, Days of Light, is another fantastic novel.

At the center of Days of Light, we have Ivy, whom we first meet as a teenager in pre-WW2 England. A child of bohemian artists, with little direction, she stumbles into a questionable relationship with an older man. After a life-changing incident, we follow Ivy across the next six decades of her life, and the fallout of said incident.

Oh my word, I love Ivy so much. Harper has created an incredibly special character here. I raced through the novel, desperately hoping for a happy ending. No spoilers, but I wept so much when I finished reading.

Hunter effectively captured the nuances of each decade, and the (albeit gradual) increased rights for women. I also enjoyed how Ivy’s confidence subtly increased in each chapter, as she became more self-assured.

I am so impressed by Days of Light. It’s my favorite Hunter novel, and that is high praise. Highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction.

Days of Light didn’t quite resonate with me, even though literary fiction is one of my favorite genres, and the writing itself is solid. Unfortunately, the plot didn't pull me in, and I found myself disengaged most of the time. The pacing was slower than I prefer, and I struggled to connect with the direction of the story. I had to stop around the 25% mark, when the story was just too weird for my taste. Since I didn’t finish the book, I feel it wouldn’t be fair to leave a rating, but netgalley doesn't allow me to post this without one. I wanted to share my experience, as I felt that something about the story didn’t click for me, but I can see how others who enjoy slow-paced, character-driven stories might appreciate this one.

Days of Light tracks the life of Ivy, from her late teens through to old age, across six pivotal April days. It’s a story that’s linear, but not without its unexpected turns. Hunter’s prose was a joy to read and Days of Light is packed with absorbing explorations of grief, loss and family. But the overarching story and trajectory of Ivy’s life fell flat for me and made it harder at times (especially during a slower second half) to keep the pages turning.

This is a book I’ll be recommending to readers happy going at a slower pace in return for rich, reflective writing.

Reading this book felt like being told a dream—it was surreal and beautiful, almost hypnotic at times. I loved how the writer told the story, with a dreamlike quality that pulled me in right away.

That being said, as the book went on, the pacing slowed down a lot. By the end, it started to feel a bit boring, and I found myself losing interest. There were also parts where I almost missed what was happening in the storyline, so I had to read really carefully. That might just be me, though.

This was an interesting premise for storytelling, although it did end up feeling more fragmented than I had anticipated.

A thoroughly enjoyable read! I loved the time-spanning format and the delicate but thorough development of Ivy’s character. It was a little slow to get going, but I was soon hooked!

Megan Hunter’s Days of Light is a beautifully crafted historical novel that follows Ivy’s life across six pivotal days spanning six decades. Starting in 1938, Ivy’s story of love, art, and self-discovery unfolds in stunning prose, set against a vividly depicted, changing England.

Hunter masterfully blends personal moments with the sweep of history, making Ivy’s journey feel both intimate and profound. This radiant, reflective novel stayed with me long after I finished reading. Perfect for anyone who enjoys thoughtful, character-driven stories.

beckywiththegoodbooks_Days of light ~ Megan Hunter, thank you so much to @netgalley for an early ARC of this book. The blurb of this one peaked my interest honestly because I couldn't quite gauge what it was actually about and I saw excitement in that mystery. Unfortunately that feeling sort of stayed with me throughout the book and it never really fell into place for me. Set over "6 days" but actually 6 stages of Ivy's life which transcend throughout the war, this is a book about love and light in all its forms, mother and daughter, man and woman, woman and woman, friendships and siblings. It also touches on themes such as religion, spirituality and unexpected death.
There were parts of this book that I was really drawn into, I loved the prose around Ivy and Frances' relationship and how this grew into something holy and beautiful, and I momentarily was drawn into the suspense around the loss of Joseph in the river and what might have been. However, overall this didn't quite hit the mark for me. That isn't to say that it wasn't beautifully written because it was, and certain paragraphs really made me grapple with their greater meaning. I really love character centric novels and I think due to the nature of the structure of this book (i.e,. set across 6 fleeting days or timelapse's) it was hard to build that momentum/ detail around the characters for me to really resonate with any of them, it all felt a bit too brief.

Days of Light by Megan Hunter is an introspective and lyrical exploration of art, desire, and faith set against the sweeping backdrop of mid-20th century England. Known for her experimental style and emotional precision, Hunter crafts a novel that moves through pivotal moments in one woman’s life with an almost dreamlike quality. However, despite its evocative prose and poignant themes, the narrative at times feels meandering, with an emotional core that doesn’t always fully resonate.

The novel opens on Easter Sunday, 1938, with Ivy at the cusp of adulthood—idealistic, restless, and yearning for something greater than the small dramas of her bohemian family’s countryside gatherings. The descriptions of this initial setting are breathtaking, capturing the golden, suspended moment before history changes forever. Ivy’s anticipation of the mysterious Frances, her brother Joseph’s charismatic new partner, adds an undercurrent of romantic tension to the seemingly idyllic scene. Hunter skillfully evokes the quiet dread of a world unknowingly on the brink of war and personal upheaval.

The structure of the novel—six pivotal days spanning six decades—offers an intriguing way to tell Ivy’s story. However, the fragmented format, while ambitious, sometimes feels disconnected. Each chapter is beautifully written but functions more like a vignette than a cohesive part of a larger narrative. This approach creates a mosaic of Ivy’s life rather than a flowing arc, which may appeal to some readers but may leave others feeling unmoored.

Hunter’s language is undeniably gorgeous, full of luminous imagery and philosophical reflections. She captures both the grandeur and the mundanity of life, from moments of profound grief and love to small observations about nature and human frailty. However, this emphasis on style sometimes comes at the expense of emotional immediacy. Ivy’s character, while richly drawn in some respects, remains somewhat enigmatic throughout the decades. Her motivations, particularly regarding her relationships and longings, are hinted at rather than deeply explored, making it difficult to fully connect with her.

The novel’s historical scope, moving through the Second World War and into the closing years of the 20th century, is handled with subtlety rather than bombast. Hunter is less interested in historical events themselves and more in how they reverberate through Ivy’s personal journey. This approach lends the story a quiet intimacy but can also feel removed from the larger historical context that shapes Ivy’s life. Key relationships, particularly Ivy’s connection to Frances and her brother Joseph, are central to the narrative, but they sometimes feel elusive rather than fully realized.

One of the novel’s strengths is its meditation on time, memory, and the small moments that come to define an entire life. Hunter captures how a single evening—an enchanted dinner, a conversation in the moonlight—can alter the course of everything, even if the meaning of that moment isn’t fully understood until years later. Ivy’s pursuit of answers feels achingly real, especially as she grapples with the meaning of her choices and the inevitability of loss.

However, the novel’s philosophical tone, while beautiful, can feel ponderous at times. Some readers may find the narrative’s pace slow and its themes overly abstract, particularly in the middle sections, where Ivy’s internal reflections overshadow the plot.

At 3 stars, Days of Light is a contemplative and stylistically ambitious novel that captures the fleeting beauty of life’s defining moments. Megan Hunter’s prose is undeniably luminous, and her ability to convey the emotional weight of time and memory is remarkable. However, the novel’s fragmented structure and elusive characterizations may leave some readers feeling more distanced than immersed. Fans of literary historical fiction with a philosophical bent, such as the works of Virginia Woolf or Rachel Cusk, will likely appreciate Hunter’s thoughtful storytelling, even if it doesn’t quite achieve the same emotional payoff as her earlier works.

Hello! Thank you for this ARC. I really enjoyed and found the execution of the "life in perspective" trope original and very well executed. You can see below the exact review I will share on social media as well as the link for the goodreads review page.

In case the book will still go through a round of minor edits before launch, my only comment/suggestion is that the first chapter feels very slow paced and has a lot of details and descriptions that, while beautiful, make the process of getting into the story a bit harder and slower than ideal. I did not feel this at all in the remaining chapters and after reading the book, when I skimmed the first chapter again I got a new appreciation for some of the details that had seemed unrelated in my first read, but I still believe this chapter would benefit from being slightly shorter or fast paced.

On a different topic: Ivy is an outstanding character and the author has done an amazing job in building her personality and making her so complex and yet, in my opinion, very likeable.

Review to be posted on my socials:

I received an ARC of this book from Netgally and I'm really glad I picked it as my first read of 2025, as this book was such a good surprise!

We follow Ivy's life from the moment she is 19 until the is an old woman. Her story is told through 6 impacful and pivotal days that change the trajectory of her life. There were several plot twists that I did not see coming and, as Ivy's life shifted and evolved (often in very unexpected ways) so did my opinion of her. The first chapter/day was a bit slow paced (also reflecting that feeling of stagnation so many people feel when they are young and waiting for their life to really start) but the following days/chapters were slightly faster. Ivy reinvented herself and lived several lives in one and it was easy to like her and to lose myself in her world. There is a good balance between plot, depth and literary prose.

I understand the idea. I understand the message behind that, But still... I struggled to get to the end.

It is not an easy story. Ivy had gone through a lot and we can only stand and observe how she is fighting for her life and trying to achieve some balans.

Days of Light is a very demanding book and I failed. Cause even though I had read to the very last page, I would not come back to it ever again.

Days of Light by Megan Hunter is an interesting and elegant book. The story follows Ivy on six pivotal days across six decades commencing from the Second World War to the present day. On Easter Sunday, 1938, nineteen year old Ivy is enjoying a sprawling, bohemian lunch with her family and friends in the peaceful Sussex countryside. It is a day that will end in tragedy and mystery. The opening of this book was strong in its character building and dynamics and brought an intensity to the narrative. Ivy is looking for answers to her grief, her love and answers to unexplained phenomena and feelings. I felt the pace of the book in the second half slowed down and the narrative lost its sense of purpose and direction. The prose written with clarity and warmth and important themes of grief, love, family, spirituality, faith, art and forgiveness are explored. I was hoping for the book to have a greater impact than it did and wished it had maybe explored more time outside the boundary of the six days which limited the forward momentum and emotional landscape of the story. Overall a good and interesting read for fans of historical and contemporary fiction 3.5 stars ✨.

Calm, reflective, immersive.

“Days of Light” follows six days in the life of Ivy, starting Easter Sunday in 1938 and ending at the turn of the millennium.

These six days have their mundane moments, but also those turning points that shape and make Ivy, how her life and love life unfolds over some sixty years. It’s such an intimate read, solely concerned with Ivy’s perspective: gorgeously told.

A highly recommended read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was beautiful, capturing the essence of girlhood, grief, the conditionings of motherhood through 20th century England--while divulging in a post world-war II narrative. Although, it didn't succinctly cover the war dynamics, it was able to fall back in on the mundanity of lives and the innate sense of longing for a world where our main character, Ivy, would have "preferred to live as a tree or a flower--never expected to move or create beyond her natural cycle."

There were moments in the book which felt reading poetry, and the way it restructured an ordinary day to have wishful promise of something ladened with fierceness of love and tumultuousness of calm. Chaos moves as silence, whereas calm is two siblings disfiguring themselves into finding solitude over their adulthood and the recklessness of childhood, and the untimely death of it.

The queer dynamic between Ivy and Frances, was beautifully portrayed, even though I had hoped for a little more. The disengagement of trying to secure one's love, sexuality, while grasping different facets of motherhood and personhood, was a nice touch to it.

Halfway through, it did fell flat. The anticipation of a new day was becoming more and more tiresome, even though it did spark itself in some places, cobwebs started to form when there was deliberate trace of too much show and tell, where as a reader I felt disoriented. There was carefully conceived character development for most of them, but it all felt very picture-perfect: even when they talk about how quickly these characters changed, with a sort of "violent rapidity."

The ending was wholesome, I couldn't imagine a better ending than that. Striving to find the light through love, enmeshed with grief and loss, is what the days had resurrected itself to be. Also, Ivy turning to God, the moment she thought she lost the love of her life? SO REAL, I laughed a bit, won't lie.

The writing style was difficult to get used to, as was the speech style. But once I did get used to it, it was an amazing novel that was very thoughtful provoking and moving. The writing itself was strong and makes me excited for more works from this author.

In Days of Light we follow Ivy through her life by witnessing 6 single days that define the course of her entire being. How monumental are these days if they shape the form of an entire existence? How exciting!
Each chapter is dedicated to one of these days; starting with Ivy in her youth and progressing all the way through her life.
The style of writing is stunning in this book, the author manages to pull the reader into the scenery and even if sometimes outside events are rare, still keep readers engaged and enthralled by the story of a character that slowly starts taking shape throughout the entirety of this book.
To me the pace was fitting for the setting and the aspiration to fit an entire life into six chapters of single days, although in some parts the derivation from the original timeline by jumping to even more settings by means of memories it did drag a little bit.
As I truly enjoyed the descriptive style of writing and the story kept me fascinated through all of its chapters, this was a really good 4 out of 5 stars read for me.
Thank you to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

i struggled with this one a little bit, because the style was too meandering at times for my liking. i think the characters could have been developed in a more nuanced way, too; however, the writing was really strong and i am looking forward to reading hunter’s upcoming works.

This is a luminous and thought-provoking novel that explores the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Hunter’s poetic prose and vivid imagery create an immersive experience, making every page a work of art. A deeply moving story that lingers in your heart long after you’ve finished.

At first I found the writing style a little difficult to focus on. The style the author used for speech did take some time to adjust too but once I got going I found my rhythm.