A Sudden Light

‘After all, an unread book is nothing more than a colourful doorstop, isn’t it?’

Trevor Riddell was 14 in 1990, the summer he accompanied his father- Jones - to their ancestral home: Riddell House. Riddell House, built of wood from the family’s logging business, was one hundred years old. When it was built, the Riddell family was wealthy. Now, the house is decaying, and Jones has come home at the behest of his sister Serena to try to persuade their father to sell the house and the 200 acres of land around it.

Jones and his father Samuel do not get on, and it seems unlikely that he will be able to convince his father to sell. Riddell House is full of a past that has damaged Jones, and haunts his father. Serena has her own agenda, while Trevor is keen to do almost anything he can to get his parents back together again.

‘Why are you looking for things? Because I’m a truth seeker.’

There are plenty of mysteries, both present and past, at Riddell House. And there are ghosts as well. Trevor becomes caught up in these mysteries as he tries to save his family by understanding the past by learning the real story of Riddell House. The answers may well be in the past, but there seem to be plenty of dangers in the present. What is really motivating Serena? And how ill is Samuel? Just who are the heroes in this story?

‘That’s the message. Everything has everything to do with everything.’

I found it hard to stop reading this book. Although I had some reservations about Trevor’s capacity to see (and understand) aspects of the situation he found himself in, and some clues seemed to appear all too conveniently just as they were required, the story kept me engrossed. It’s a gothic setting: lots of brooding, darkness and decay. Redemption takes many forms. Some endings are (deservedly) happier than others.

‘But we only have this universe in which to live; we can’t have the other universes.’

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

In 1990, at the age of 14 Trevor Riddell discovers that his family were once quite wealthy. His great great grandfather Elijah Riddell had built a massive fortune on harvesting timber from the pristine forests of the Puget Sound in Washington State. Facing bankruptcy and the end of his marriage, Trevor's father Jones takes Trevor to the crumbling old family mansion in the last reserve of Pacific Northwest forest to try to talk his father Samuel into selling the land to property developers.

Trevor has never met his grandfather, Samuel or his father's sister Serena who has never left the house and looks after Samuel and Jones has never been back since leaving many years ago after his mother died. Trevor discovers that there is a ghost in the mansion who is not happy with the proposed sale, wanting the forest returned to its natural state, and helps Trevor unravel the tragic story of his family and their fall from grace.

This was a very atmospheric book with the beauty of the grounds and the remnants of the forest contrasting sharply with the crumbling, decaying mansion. The characters are all very well drawn, each with their own agenda. Trevor is a smart, candid child who forges a strong bond with his grandfather and lusts after his aunt, the manipulative and seductive Serena. The truth builds slowly but steadily, gradually revealed through 'dreams' that Trevor has and conversations with the ghost as well as diaries that he finds written by Elijah's son Ben. A beautiful story of family secrets and relationships and ultimately a boy's journey in learning to decide for himself what matters most.