A Scatter of Light

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Author(s)

Malinda Lo

Publisher

Dutton Books for Young Readers

Genre(s)

Age Range

14+

Release Date

October 04, 2022

ISBN

978-0525555285

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An Instant New York Times Bestseller

Last Night at the Telegraph Club author Malinda Lo returns to the Bay Area with another masterful queer coming-of-age story, this time set against the backdrop of the first major Supreme Court decisions legalizing gay marriage.

Aria Tang West was looking forward to a summer on Martha’s Vineyard with her best friends—one last round of sand and sun before college. But after a graduation party goes wrong, Aria’s parents exile her to California to stay with her grandmother, artist Joan West. Aria expects boredom, but what she finds is Steph Nichols, her grandmother’s gardener. Soon, Aria is second-guessing who she is and what she wants to be, and a summer that once seemed lost becomes unforgettable—for Aria, her family, and the working-class queer community Steph introduces her to. It’s the kind of summer that changes a life forever.

And almost sixty years after the end of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, A Scatter of Light also offers a glimpse into Lily and Kath’s lives since 1955.

Editor review

1 review

consuming coming-of-age read

November 19, 2022

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

5.0

Characters

5.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

A SCATTER OF LIGHT is an enthralling and moving YA coming-of-age story. Aria is 18 years old, and after a terrible and public situation with a boy, her parents have decided to send her to her grandmother's house for the summer before she begins college at MIT. Aria is still reeling from the way that everything happened when she arrives to the Bay Area.

Her grandmother is Joan West, famous artist, and she appreciates the time spent with her granddaughter while also asking for her help on a big project. As part of it, Aria is digging through her grandfather's old files and helping to sort them. Not long after she arrives, Aria meets Steph, her grandmother's gardener. Aria feels an attraction unlike she has before, and she is questioning what that means for her identity. As she spends the summer with Steph and Steph's friends, she begins to understand who she is, what she wants, and how to make sense of the chaos that is her feelings about friends and her family.

What I loved: This is a really enthralling read about figuring out yourself, understanding challenging family members, and discovering your own path forward. Aria comes from a line of artists and engineers, and she is determined to make her mark on the world with a path akin to the latter. As she spends the summer with her grandmother though, she begins to learn more about art and its appeal and challenges. There are some really poignant discussions of art with parallels to life throughout the book.

Aria's feelings are as consuming to the reader as they are to her. Steph has a girlfriend, but Aria cannot help but feel the pull toward her. In many ways, Steph will be a defining character in her life and self-discovery because of what she represents more than precisely who she is. That being said, there are definitely some feelings being caught all around. The writing has a lovely and captivating flow to it, so it is easy to get pulled in and caught up in the feelings of it all.

The strong themes around family, art, self-discovery, prejudice, love, and friendship all shine through the text. The ending was unexpected, but it really brought all of these points home in a big way. Life is complicated, and so is Aria's story - and it felt all the more real for it.

Final verdict: A consuming and compelling read, A SCATTER OF LIGHT features lyrical prose, unforgettable characters, and a powerful journey of self-discovery. Highly recommend for fans of RISE TO THE SUN, HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE, and I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST.

Olivia Farr, Assistant Blog Manager & Staff Reviewer Top 10 Reviewer 1956 reviews

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Quiet, devastating and powerful

December 07, 2022

Overall rating

5.0

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5.0

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5.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

A Scatter of Light follows Aria West, a teenage girl who has just graduated from high school and who has been sent to stay with her grandmother for the summer after a humiliating incident involving nude pictures going viral. She is not happy about this change of summer plans, as she had hoped to spend the summer on Martha's Vinyard with her two best friends.
Then she meets Steph, her grandmother's gardener, and Steph's friends, and discovers a part of herself that she had not known existed. Set during the summer that gay marriage was legalized in California, A Scatter of Light is a queer coming-of-age story with well-developed characters, difficult emotions and complex relationships. Themes explored are those of art, identity, sexuality, memory, grief and the passage of time. I loved the relationship between Aria and her artist grandmother Joan, who finds herself always making art about time.
A Scatter of Light is quiet, bittersweet, devastating and beautifully written. What makes it even more powerful is that it is from the Aria's perspective ten years in the future. Although described as a companion novel to Last Night at the Telegraph Club, these books can be read as standalones. However, reading both allows one to see the evolution of LBGTQ+ rights between the 1950s and 2013 from the perspectives of members of the same family, and to feel the passage of time even more profoundly.