After loosing her mother Esme is overwhelmed by the grief, she starts to see and hear things that other can’t. Believing this is do to her anxiety and depression she tries to hide this.

I enjoyed how the author addressed grief and the effects it can have on a persons mental health. As well as how grief wasn’t glossed over, like it often it in books. I’d be intrigued to read more about Esme.

I found this book quite hard to follow, often getting confused about what was going on. This is likely due to the fact I am new to a bit of the fantasy genre, but would definitely like to expand on the genre. Including reading more from the autor

✨💫 A Light From Elsewhere by Harry Allen really crept up on me.

Esme is grieving her mum and starts seeing and hearing things she cannot explain. When she is diagnosed with depression and anxiety, she keeps those experiences to herself, worried that admitting them will mean she is losing her mind.

That part of the book felt painfully real to me. The way grief blurs reality and makes you doubt your own thoughts was handled with a lot of care. As a nurse who has worked with those at end of life, I resonated so much with the way it was written.

I liked how the story opens out slowly. Meeting Perkin and his mother Toni shifts everything. Suddenly there is the possibility that what Esme is experiencing is not illness at all, but something stranger and harder to define.

I appreciated that the book never rushes to give neat answers. It lets you sit in the uncertainty alongside Esme.

This is a quiet, thoughtful read rather than a dramatic one. It is more about mood and emotion than plot twists, and that worked for me. I finished it feeling a little unsettled but also oddly comforted. It is the kind of book that lingers in your thoughts afterwards.

A gentle, strange and moving read for anyone who likes speculative stories grounded in real feeling.

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