When 276 schoolgirls are abducted from their school in Nigeria, Fidelis Ewerike, a Florida-based barrister, poet, and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War, begins to go mad. Consumed by memories of his younger sister, Ugochi, who went missing during that conflict and fearful that the same fate awaits Amara, his sixteen-year-old daughter—who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ugochi—Fidelis locks her in her bedroom and offers no explanation.

As a result of that singular action, the Ewerike family spirals into chaos. After unsuccessful attempts to free her daughter from her room, Fidelis’s wife, Adaobi, seeks the counsel of a preacher, praying for spiritual liberation from the curse she is certain has plagued her family since leaving Nigeria. Fourteen-year-old Chuk, beset by his own war with the neighborhood boys, receives a painful education on force, masculinity, and his tenuous position within his family. And rebellious, resentful Amara is hungry for her life to be hers, so the moment she escapes her imprisonment, she falls in love—not with the Nigerian-born engineer-in-training her mother wanted, but with Maksym Kostyk, the son of the town drunk. Before long, the two have concocted a plan to run away. But for all that they have endured and for all that they’re tempted to forsake, the Ewerikes find that their bonds run deeper and stronger than they ever knew.

This book contains scenes depicting child abuse and domestic abuse and mentions of sexual assault.

There will always be those special stories that linger in your mind long after you’ve left them—lines echoing in your ears, images floating in the corners of your subconscious. Ever since I finished A Season of Light, I haven’t stopped thinking about this portrait of a family tangled in a deep web of intergenerational trauma.

A Season of Light centers around Fidelis Ewerike, a Nigerian-born, Florida-based lawyer. When Fidelis learns of the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls, he is reminded of the terror he experienced during the Nigerian Civil War, when he lost his beloved sister and suffered as a prisoner of war. In a daze, Fidelis locks his teenaged daughter, Amara, in her room, guided by the misplaced aim of protecting her. At first, Fidelis’s wife and son believe this is only a temporary fit of madness…but weeks pass, and Amara is still a prisoner within their home.

In this book, author Julie Iromuanya pulls off a dazzling literary feat, building a sense of empathy and understanding through exquisite characters and weighty, authentic interpersonal dynamics. A Season of Light is a masterpiece of literary fiction, and will stay with you long after you’ve put it down.