Listen to this review:
I was broken by the time I finished reading this book.
Lori Inglis Hall’s debut novel The Shock of the Light tugs at you, pulls you in and then tosses you about as you navigate the darkness of the Second World War, the role of women sent into occupied France, the lack of acknowledgment by the British government post war, as they strove to hide their mistakes. When the truth is finally revealed, it is as if a piercing light has suddenly come on.
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation formed in July 1940 to conduct sabotage, subversion, and espionage in occupied Europe. Thirty-nine women travelled behind the lines in enemy occupied France – sixteen paid with their lives. Women who adopted new identities; women who took the ultimate risk; brave women.
This is the fictional story of one of them, loosely inspired from some of the testimonies of counterparts, which now reside at the Imperial War Museum in London. As Inglis Hall says, “I have liberally plundered real events”. And these real events are another stain on the harbingers of war.
Twins: there is a bond, one that can sometimes be unreadable to other siblings. Theo and Tessa Armstrong share that bond – inseparable as children, so close it is if the light cannot penetrate between the two bodies. Until Tessa opts to study at the Sorbonne while Theo is at Cambridge. When she returns that summer, she has changed, their former closeness has shifted. Theo enlists in the RAF and, unknown to her family, Tessa joins the SOE to go back to her beloved France. Both suffer the trauma of war and separation, but two years later only one returns.
Chilling, heart breaking, I can use so many superlatives to describe this book, but its depth and empathy sit with you. There is humour, love and daring escapes – it is well rounded as Inglis Hall lives her characters. Delving into the mire of false identities, loyalty and trust, this debut novel has an important place in WWII historical fiction.
Lori Inglis Hall has an MA (research) in history from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and works as a researcher and rights manager for the estate of the photographer Lee Miller. Previously, she spent a decade working in politics at the House of Commons. The Shock of the Light is Hall’s first novel.
