The Light Pirate

Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds to search for them. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.
Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.

This book is a bit different from what I usually read. I’ve never had to prepare for or weather through a hurricane but reading The Light Pirate gave me a better idea of what it can be like for those who live in places like Florida. The gravity and danger that comes with hurricanes is terrifying, and The Light Pirate didn’t shy away from showing that.

The Light Pirate is the story of a family trying to survive hurricane season year after year – it’s the story of Frida and her family, and then of Wanda as she grows up in a world that continues to be swallowed by rising tides. Told in four parts, the book goes through phases of Wanda’s life – before she was born, when she was growing up, and when she’s older.

It’s hard to fully describe how I feel about this book. Parts of it were sad, others frustrating, and then there were parts that left me melancholic. The dystopian aspect of the story hits close to home because it can easily be our future in a matter of years. While that thought can be depressing, Lily Brooks-Dalton also does a great job of showing how people can come together in the face of hardship. There are sad moments yes, but also moments of hope and wonder, and a future that looks different but one where we can adapt while nature runs its course. I think ultimately this book made me feel like no matter how the earth changes, life will go on and it CAN go on, some way, somehow.

I’ve never read a survivalist book like this, where there’s a sense of quiet loneliness as you feel the characters’ isolation. Lily Brooks-Dalton creates a world so vivid it feels real, and you’re left both humbled and in awe of nature and the wilderness.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an egalley to review! All opinions my own.