Songlight
by Moira Buffini
Harper, September 3, 2024. 376 pages.
Review written June 18, 2024, from an advance reader copy sent to me by the publisher.
I probably wouldn’t have picked this book up if I’d realized it’s by a debut author – I read enough debut novels last year on the Morris Award committee. But this one ended up standing up with the best of them. If I were still on the Morris committee, I’d have put this book forward for further consideration.
The setting is a far distant future dystopian earth after mankind destroyed themselves in nuclear war. But some people have telepathy – which they call Songlight – and those people are hated and feared by the powers that be – and all others are taught to hate them, too.
The community of Northaven is rigidly controlled, all under the Brethren at Brightlinghelm. The boys will go off to fight the Aylish. And after they’ve served for ten years, they’ll come back and be rewarded with a First Wife from the choirmaidens. They can choose a Second Wife for pleasure, but the girls who are left are going to be made sterile and serve in a Pink House as Third Wives for soldiers.
Meanwhile, any deviation – adultery, love for anyone other than wives – is punished, but especially those who have the Songlight, who are called unhuman.
This story especially features two teenage girls, Lark and Nightingale. They meet each other in the Songlight, but both are in danger of being discovered. Lark is mourning her lover, Rye, who was taken away to have brain surgery that will turn him into a compliant shell. Nightingale’s own father is an Inquisitor, who must find and root out the unhumans.
Those two are our main viewpoint characters, but we get the perspectives of several other people as well, as we learn that there’s unrest even in the seat of power. Then when Lark is almost lost at sea, she’s saved by the Aylish, and they are coming on a mission to make an overture of peace. But how can two peoples with such a history come together?
The story is well-told, and I was pulled into the intrigue – my biggest disappointment is that it’s the start of a trilogy and doesn’t really resolve at all. I hope by the time the sequel comes out, I remember what happened – things aren’t looking good at this point, but all our heroes are in a position to make a difference.
Something the book portrays well is how hard it is for young people to go against what they’ve always been taught, and how much it takes to leave what you know, even if that is a bad situation. But people in power are invested in keeping things the same, even as people start to realize that’s not best for anyone.
I do hope this book gets some attention so the sequels come soon! I want to know what happens to these characters and the people they love and what it looks like when they come fully into their power.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/songlight.html
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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