The Language of Light (2003) by Meg Waite Clayton

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Language of Light (2003)

by Meg Waite Clayton

Worthington Valley, Maryland

Maryland: 7/9

   The Language of Light is plot type 2 of the 1,001 Novels project:  Woman (or rarely, Man) comes home to deal with unresolved personal and familial issues; surprises are revealed.  I also call this the "Hallmark Movie" plot, which typically involves a busy professional woman throwing over her urban life for life in a small town in the middle of nowhere where she grew up.  Here, the protagonist is a young widow with two small children who moves back to Maryland "Horsey Country," which is a thing.

 Once ensconced in her familial estate- in the fashion of the generationally wealthy, money, or the need for money, is mentioned not a single time in the pages of The Language of Light.  Nelly, the protagonist, is not one of those Moms who spends all day worrying about her children, here, the childrearing is so effortless it makes the Mothers in countless other 1,001 Novels titles look like complainers.   Rather, Nelly spends her time thinking about her relationships: with her now dead husband, who she was on the verge of divorcing before he drove his car off the road and snapped his neck and with her father, a famous photographer/journalist known for his pictures snapped in war zones.

  Nelly, it seems, also once had dreams of becoming a professional photographer, only life got in the way.  Nelly befriends Emma, the wealthy widower who lives next door and when Dad shows up for the holidays, Emma and Nelly's dad rekindle an old relationship.  I found many of the plot points ridiculous, like the trip Nelly takes with her "portfolio"(mostly pictures of her kids) to New York City to try to land a solo show.  True, she laughs at herself, but maybe not hard enough. 

   In terms of the concerns of the 1,001 Novels project, The Language of Light is worthwhile because of the depiction of Maryland Horsey country but otherwise, no.