The Shock of the Light (Lori Inglis Hall)

This debut novel is about Tessa and Theo, who are twins. They are very close and share everything. So, Theo notices when Tessa returns from studying in Paris, and something has changed in her but he cannot quite work out what, and she is not saying. Then, the second world war starts. Theo goes into the RAF and becomes a pilot. Tessa also wants to get involved and she becomes a member of the Special Operations Executive. She is parachuted behind enemy lines into occupied France. At the end of the war, Theo returns home and finds out that his sister is missing. He dedicates his life and energy to trying to find out what happened to his sister, helped by a student doing her research on the women of the SOE.

Loris Inglis Hall has researched the topic in depth over many years and it really shows in this story. In particular, the topic of women’s involvement in special operations is one of the main historical topics at the centre of the novel from how they were recruited and trained, to the missions they conducted and, unfortunately, the betrayals and incidents that led most of them to never return. The life during the war in occupied France is described in detail as well as what happened at the end of the war, and later in Nuremberg. Through Theo, the author also explores the trauma of the war in those who returned, and the topic of homosexuality as it was seen at the time.

The focus on the twins brings emotional depth to the story because it looks at how such a bond can survive the extreme conditions they had to get through, and the suffering brought about by the loss and not knowing what happened to Tessa. I found this book to be a page turner with a very immersive writing. Maybe the experience that Loris Inglis Hall has as a researcher and rights manager for the estate of the photographer Lee Miller gave her the visual anchors to write so vividly about this period.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I found it both historically researched and also a powerful story of human connection and grief.

To hear more from the author about her book, you can read her short introduction to it on the publisher’s website, or listen to this nice podcast on the Behind The Stack platform. Wikipedia has a good overview of the topic of the Special Operations Executive for those of you like me whose interest is tickled by reading about it in this book.