Children of Darkness and Light (British Literature) [Paperback]

Nicholas Mosley (Author)

Book Description

Series: British Literature | Publication Date: July 1997

In Children of Darkness and Light, Mosley takes on what for most novelists has been the most challenging of subjects: a novel directly concerned with religious belief. A middle-aged, burnt-out journalist is sent to the north of England to do a story about the possible appearance of the Blessed Virgin to a group of children, though this may be a rumor initiated by the government to cover up a nuclear disaster. Or both. Out of such conflicting possibilities, Mosley invents a sinister world where nothing is what it seems to be. And as Mosley's narrator moves through the possibilities of half-truths, lies, conspiracies, and betrayals, he himself creates a parallel crisis in his personal life wherein he and his wife are trying to destroy their marriage or save it, or - as we come to expect in Mosley novels - do both at once. And behind all this is the possibility that the narrator - half philosopher and half would-be saint - is little more than a middle-aged man trying to justify his irresponsibility and infidelity behind a shield of wit and irony.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A hard-drinking, womanizing journalist is sent to cover a story about the possible sighting of the Virgin Mary by a group of children in the northern English town of Cumbria, also the site of a nuclear power plant. The story echoes to an earlier one he covered in Yugoslavia, where another sighting of the Virgin Mary occurred in an area of possible nuclear contamination. Plagued by a disintegrating marriage, an alienated son, and a foundering career, the reporter sets off to investigate the story. Cumbria turns out to be a very strange place. His arrival has been expected even though he hasn't phoned ahead. People don't seem to hear or understand him when he talks to them. A boy metamorphoses into a twin and then a triplet. Are these phenomena manifestations of faith or the effects of radioactivity? Best known for the Whitbread Prize-winning Hopeful Monsters (LJ 8/91), Mosley here offers a curious mix of spirituality and surrealism. For more adventurous readers.?Barbara Love, Kingston P.L., Kingston, Ontario
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

With strains of obtuse, indirect, Pinteresque dialogue and, at times, a discombobulated, Lolita-like narrator, Mosley's new novel is simultaneously abstract, realistic, and sublime. In a failing marriage and lonely life-point, a middle-aged journalist is sent to Cumbria (northern England) where stories of the Virgin Mary's appearance to a group of children have surfaced alongside rumors of nuclear contamination--birth defects and water poisoning--from a local power plant. Drawn into the children's attempts to reveal nuclear realities and spiritual potentialities, Mosley's narrator is led toward revelation of the simplicities of love (in many forms) and its contradictory and inherent complexities. In Mosley's realm, everything is double-edged and multidimensional. Nothing is truth, and everything is truth. Mosley's style of writing is unique, and his ability to shape and mold a novel like a clay work in progress is remarkable. Readers looking for straightforward answers and happy endings will be disappointed. But those who approach the book with an open mind will be taken on quite an adventure. Janet St. John

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564781518
• ISBN-13: 978-1564781512
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,102,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing novel, promising ideas, June 2, 2006

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Children of Darkness and Light (British Literature) (Paperback)

I was let down by this. Aware of Mosley's determinedly indeterminate narrative p-o-v that he places into his novels, I expected the open-ended nature of the protagonist's marriage, his investigation in Cumbria of the possible Marian apparition and his inability to decide what to believe in. Mosley conveys this intriguingly in a hesitant, many-dashed, staccato way on the page. It's as if you're reading what the author's working out on the page, rather than the usual version, in which you think about what the author's already polished. It reminds me of the style of the Irish writer Francis Stuart. But after fifty pages like this, the novel never really gains any momentum. Held down by the Schroedinger's Cat type of analogies, the narrative stagnates.

The problem is I did not come to care for any of the characters. The nuclear testing and DNA experimentation subplots seemed promising ideas, but their potential was not sufficiently developed. Similarly, the protagonist's previous Bosnian stint and his witnessing of the visionaries of Medjugorge is a great idea that needed more in-depth development. (See Randall Sullivan's "The Miracle Detective" and Sandra Zimdars-Swartz' "Encountering Mary" for two other perspectives on these claims from Bosnia. Both books reviewed by me.)

The tension that should result between supernatural and inexplicable, science and faith, reason and mystery's portrayed too languidly here, and you never really "feel" the presence of the Balkan conflict and the controversial claims of Mary's apparitions. The scenes there should have but never do come alive. It's a pity, for there's lots of raw material here that needed more refinement if this novel was to have really shimmered.