Beam of Light
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley November 18, 2024
Author John Kinsella
Distributor: Transit Lounge
ISBN: 9781923023215
Publisher: Transit Lounge
Release Date: September 2024
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Whenever John Kinsella releases a new book it always interesting to see what he has chosen as his latest inspiration; conservation, protest, history, people or a combination of subjects which have intrigued sufficiently to make their way onto the pages of a book.
Beam of Light is a series of short stories that looks at people; the many idiosyncrasies that go to make up who they are and the influences that make them the people they become.
Twenty-nine stories, many of which have been published as articles and short stories, are gathered together to be enjoyed slowly, one at a time, to allow time to reflect on the message couched very delicately within the story.
In his gentle, keenly observant style Kinsella captures the very human traits in the people we all know, or whom at some time have passed through our lives, leaving behind lessons hard earned, coupled with the ghosts of time passing.
No one story stands out as each one stands on its merit. Beam of Light begins the anthology which looks at the hopelessness of addiction, the desire to change, the inability to do so, couched in words of understanding.
The Winged Nike of Samothrace is the final story which looks at dreams woven in a journey to discover alternatives in life, returning in a circle as life so often does, to the place where it all began.
There is a sadness that permeates each of the stories, the characters, flawed but hopeful, challenged, each one holding a desire for a better life, maybe someday; of young men clueless about life, young women desperate to change, about change and the reasons why!
Beam of Light – shines a light on what is essentially the ‘law of cause and effect’ which even though it is seldom acknowledged or accepted, is portrayed thought the voices of societies marginalised, captured for all time by a master wordsmith – John Kinsella.