In the Light of What We See by Sarah Painter

In the Light of What We See is a fairly lovely and intriguing book by Sarah Painter. There's a touch of magical realism, a touch of ghosts, and a touch of mystery, though the latter was painted with the feigntest of hands. The story unfolds in two alternate timelines: the present, where Mina is recovering in hospital from a near fatal car crashed caused by her boyfriend directly after she breaks up with him (though she doesn't remember the events), and 1930's England, where Grace has become a nurse at that very same hospital after being sent away from her family in disgrace. Mina begins to see Grace in her room, leading us to believe that something terrible happened to Grace all those years ago, and that the same fate might soon befall Mina.

There is tension in the book, as we wait for Mina to remember that her boyfriend is a jerk, but because we already know the cause of her accident it's not like there is a big reveal at the end. There is also some mystery surrounding her brother, though that too is sort of obvious, and not so mysterious after all. This book does best in its descriptions of England on the cusp of WWII, and the life of a lowly nurse trainee back then. I could have read a whole book about Grace and her friends, and what was about to befall them. I also have to say that above everything else, the title just rubbed me wrong. There's not such a direct correlation to the story that this book couldn't have been named something else, and with a title so close to Anthony Doer's All the Light We Cannot See, it almost seems like a ploy to get you to buy this book thinking it's the other one. Just sayin...