Journal Entry 1 by bigcurlyloz from Fordham, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Friday, November 09, 2007

"A powerful debut from a young Australian novelist that features one of the most likeable but contrary figures you are likely to meet in contemporary fiction Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. And when she is offered a place as an exchange student at a school in America it seems as if her dreams will be fulfilled. Her host family has a beautiful house in Illinois and couldn't be more welcoming ...until she starts having to live in the suffocating and repressed atmosphere of their suburban mansion and things begin to go terribly wrong. How the Light Gets In is an acutely observed story of adolescence reminiscent of American Beauty in its dissection of engrained prejudices and middle-class hypocrisy. In Lou Connor, Hyland has created a larger-than-life protagonist who mesmerises the reader with her vivacity and vulnerability, from hopeful beginning to unexpected, haunting end." - amazon.co.uk synopsis 

Journal Entry 2 by bigcurlyloz from Fordham, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Friday, November 30, 2007

Beautifully written and evoked, you really feel for Lou. I found the ending slightly unsatisfying though. I will definitely look out for more Hyland!