In this astonishing memoir Anna Lyndsey takes us into the world of a rare and shocking illness, and we emerge awed by a shining love story. Anna writes with such honesty and grace and mischief about how her condition forces her to retreat into blackness - yet we see that this new space she so bravely creates for herself is suffused with light * Sonali Deraniyagala, author of Wave, winner of the PEN/Ackerly Prize and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award *
The premise of Girl in the Dark seems lifted out of a Gothic novel: A woman whose flesh is burned by light is confined to a dark box of a room. But this story, self-excoriating in its honesty and brimming with insight into the human condition and the inner life of a chronically ill person, is so much more than a medical mystery or a nightmarishly true tale. I read this book, a memoir that reads like an epic poem, pen in hand, feverishly underlining sentence after sentence. Yes, life is suffering, but in the end, as Anna Lyndsey so aptly puts it, `Words are wonderful.' This book is a gift, a testament to the power of art as a saving grace * Susannah Cahalan, author of the New York Times-bestselling Brain on Fire *
In her keenly observed book of life without light, she takes us with her through every challenge * Sainsbury's Magazine *
Bizarre and gripping ... It's honesty, bravery and touches of black comedy will be a help to anyone suffering from a chronic illness, as well as to those who - at least for now - are spared. This book about darkness shines with lucid writing and flashes of bold imagination * Sunday Times *
The miracle is not that she has written about the experience, although that would be remarkable enough ... What is so surprising is that this is a tremendous book, beautifully written and full of hard-won hope and unexpected humour. It isn't a misery memoir, nor a self-help guide. It's a little masterpiece ... By the close of the book, you feel as if you've made a wonderful new friend. Anna Lyndsey is one of those special people of whom it could be said that she'd rather light a candle than curse the darkness; except, of course, she can't do that. Instead, she's written a luminous account that celebrates everything that is best about being human. This book is that candle * Mail on Sunday *
With black humour, she describes her strategies for living as full a life as possible without becoming an emotional basket-case ... In the dying of the light, there is rage but also laughter, love and the hope of progress * The Times *
But this is not just a survival tale, it's also something of a love story. Lyndsey lives with her long-term partner, Pete. Their touching relationship provides some much-needed hope * Independent *
Remarkable ... Her writing remains buoyantly entertaining, her style dry and unself-pitying ... Her observations about nature, colour, texture and sound - as well as the darkness and her own plight - are recorded with great acuity, as if her isolation has amplified everything ... The bad news for her is that she remains ill; she is apparently starting a novel. Still, if it's anything as good as this, that's good news for the rest of us * Evening Standard *
Astonishing ... Anna writes about all of this with ferocious honesty ... She can even be grimly funny * Readers Digest *
An extraordinary memoir of horror, endurance, resourcefulness and despair. It is also a love story - because without her boyfriend (now husband) Pete, it is impossible to see how Lyndsey would have survived ... Girl in the Dark is beautifully written. The author's intelligence shines on every page, and her will to survive (despite those black thoughts in her dark room) is inspiring * Daily Mail *
This sounds like the subject of a novel, but it is the all-too-real predicament of the author, who, except for infrequent periods of remission when she can tolerate dawn and dusk, has to spend whole seasons confined to a completely dark room ... Hers is a dreadful situation captured with unexpected grace, and Lyndsey is also able to laugh at the practically unthinkable restrictions imposed on her. Her prose has some lovely wording ... such personification of the illness also clearly demonstrates Lyndsey's determination, and that her true allies - above all her admirable husband - in their fight against it. A deeply sobering memoir that, despite everything, strikes an encouraging and uplifting tone * The Lady *
Girl in the Dark is a stunning debut from Anna Lyndsey about an unimaginably horrible disease * Literary Review *
Lyndsey prises open all these emotions with effortless, matter-of-fact clarity, without ever letting Girl in the Dark trip over into misery memoir territory. In fact, her chronicle of a life without light somehow sparkles with dark humour and wonder at the world ... Beautifully affecting' * Observer *
Beautifully written ... Her honesty and determination to remain upbeat in the face of adversity are deeply affecting. A moving and uplifting listen * Psychologies *
She began to write about her illness. She wrote haltingly in the complete darkness, in a bound notebook, using her left thumb as a marker to guide her hand ... lyrical, funny and uplifting * Daily Mail *
Remarkable * The Lady *
In lyrical, melancholy prose, she describes the limits of her days, listening to audiobooks, inventing word games and dreaming of sunshine while clinging onto a slim chance of recovery * Sunday Express *
The terrible illness that changed Anna Lyndsey's life ten years ago is almost too sad to read, but it is her searing honesty and elegant, inspirational style that lifts this book above the level of misery memoir into a brilliant and insightful psychological study of stoicism and survival ... Remarkably, she and her boyfriend, Pete, married and co-exist in a world of blackness, punctuated by occasional brief forays into the twilight -- Sally Morris * Daily Mail *
This unusual, moving memoir is artfully constructed, interleaving an account of Lyndsey's domestic shadow-world with recollections of her former life, awash in remembered sunlight. The prose frequently sparkles * Independent on Sunday *
