A heart-warming and sobering story

By Such a Parting Light by Barbara Lalla is a heart-warming and sobering novel that tells a story of loss, love, and resilience, while capturing the essence of relationships and the impact of shared memories.

Set in Trinidad, the story is centred around the protagonists, Mark and Stella, who face the challenges of ageing and the sudden loss of their daughter and son-in-law in a disastrous event, leaving them to raise three young children. This proves to be a mammoth task that the elderly couple approaches with a combination of love and anxiety as they seek to provide a stable home for the children, who are also struggling to come to terms with their parents’ death.

During this development, the couple finds themselves face to face with other challenges, namely Barrie (a deranged woman claiming to be their children’s mother and threatening to take them away) and COVID-19 (a pandemic that no one anticipated and has their lives shrouded in uncertainty). Despite these trials, the deep bond between Mark and Stella keeps the family grounded and helps get them through trying times.

In this novel, Lalla also explores the cultural and social context of Trinidad and Tobago, adding depth to the characters’ experiences, and their influences from and interactions with the world around them.

Lalla’s writing style showcases her emotional depth and lyrical quality and captures the journeys of the characters with insight and compassion. Her storytelling weaves together past and present, which is an interesting approach that allows the reader to become fully immersed in the characters’ lives.

Overall, this novel is poignant and introspective as it examines the complexities of ageing, the enduring power of love, the changes that come with loss and grief, and the dynamics of human relationships.

Title: By Such a Parting Light

Author: Barbara Lalla

Published by: The University of the West Indies Press

ISBN: 978-976-640-938-8

Nicole Watson is a communicator, content creator, and a blogger. Follow her on Instagram @nicolesbookishbits.