The Fragility of Light by Heather S Lonczak

 

This utterly engrossing book is an examination into a specific mental illness, schizoaffective disorder, through the deeply moving, deeply personal accounts of the main character, Sunny; her husband, Joshua, and her father, Peter. Sunny has graduated with honours from her chosen university, has a “perfect job” with a publishing house, loves and is loved by Joshua and Peter, and her grandparents, her Baba and Papa, and she loves and cherishes her cat, Chester. Although she had always been “bookish and shy” and seemed unapproachable to most young men, Joshua was enchanted by her and gradually won her heart.

Sunny’s mother died when Sunny was eight years old. She adored Baba and Papa who were Holocaust survivors and her father’s parents, and she immersed herself in Holocaust literature in order to understand their suffering and their sadness over the loss of their extended families.

It is from this background that Heather Lonczak unfolds the story of Sunny’s illness, in such a compelling way that I found it very hard to tear myself away from the book. It is a long book which also encompasses the lives of Baba and Papa, as well as Gracie, Sunny’s mother. All of this is important in order to understand Sunny’s illness. An interesting aspect to the story from the point of view of someone living outside America is that the costs of medical treatments in that country have to be met by insurance policies which form part of wages packages; whereas Australians who don’t have private health insurance are covered by Medicare.

I read The Fragility of Light as an ebook, thanks to Heather Lonczak and Net Galley but I think it would be perfect as a hard copy; there is so much in it that bears dipping into and re-reading. 

Published by Ivy Lane Press.