Sweeping from the 1950s to now, this deeply moving novel tells the interconnected story of two very different families, during a time of momentous change in twentieth-century Britain.

Shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award 2021
‘Extraordinary’ – Spectator
‘Powerful’ – Guardian
‘Spellbinding’ – The Tablet

As the 1950s draw to a close, and the Cold War escalates, the shape of Drummond Moore's life is changed beyond measure when he strikes up an unlikely friendship with James Carter, a rich and well-connected fellow national serviceman. Carter leads him to Doom Town – an army base that seeks to recreate the effects of a nuclear war – where he meets Gwen, a barmaid with whom he shares an instant connection.

Set over sixty years of British history, The Blind Light by Stuart Evers is the compelling story of one family as they deal with the personal and political fallout of their times.

"A thoughtful and powerful study of the corrosive effects of fear, the damage we do to ourselves and our loved ones when danger is all we can see . . . disconcertingly timely" - Guardian

"A panoramic novel of modern Britain . . . extraordinary" - Spectator

"Evers excels in his close examination of relationships . . . the complicated nature of guilt and loss is beautifully handled . . . an absorbing read" - Irish Independent

"Powerfully imagined . . . multi-threaded, unflinching, and visceral" - TLS

"A shrewd, timely novel" - New York Times

"A spellbinding family history, encompassing the personal and the political" - The Tablet

"Rivals the work of American greats such as Bellow and Franzen" - The Week

"Evers’s book is a widescreen family saga that examines, among other things, the effect of the nuclear threat during the Cold War on the British psyche . . . it’s absorbing – and uncannily timed in its perversely consoling sense of how crises come and go" - Daily Mail

"The Blind Light is staged on a far grander scale than its predecessor. Submerged currents from the cold war guide the plotline . . . [Lyrical but precise descriptions] are the moments when The Blind Light shines most brightly" - Financial Times

"A sprawling, absorbing, epic crossing generations" - Cumbria Life

"Subtle and sombre . . . Love, luck, debts and domestic life play out against a historical backdrop that takes in the Cuban Missile Crisis, strikes, civil unrest and the rise of rave culture" - Sunday Express