A Scatter of Light

After Aria’s graduation is disrupted by nonconsensual nudes of her being shared around school, she is blamed and sent to stay with her grandmother in California for a while. But this exile leads her to her grandmother’s gardener, Steph, who introduces her to the local queer community against the backdrop of the legalisation of gay marriage. Embracing the community, Aria begins to understand her own queerness as she falls for Steph. This is also a partial continuation to Last Night at the Telegraph Club, being set 60 years after and giving a glimpse of what became of Lily and Kath after the 50s. In some ways the two novels offer a contrast on the changes in the community and issues faced across 60 years.

This is a beautiful story of queer awakening and fraught, bittersweet relationships. Those early, first love emotions in Aria feel very visceral and relatable. I would have liked a little more of the community, and Steph’s relationship to gender, but the focus is on Aria’s journey of love and loss at this key moment of change in her life as all her connections are up in the air while she discovers herself.