How the Light Gets in

"Heartbreaking and compelling." Observer Lou Connor, a gifted, unhappy sixteen-year-old, is desperate to escape her life of poverty in Sydney. When she is offered a place as an exchange student at a school in America it seems as if her dreams will be fulfilled . . . How the Light Gets In is an acutely observed story of adolescence, shot through with spiky humour. In Lou Connor M.J. Hyland has created a larger-than-life heroine who captivates the reader with her vivacity and vulnerability, from hopeful beginning to unexpected, haunting end. "Hyland nails the alternating excitement and embarrassment of being a teenager . . . a writer grappling with serious questions about how we make our way through the world." New York Times "An astonishingly well-written slice of reality." Telegraph "Hyland excels at atmosphere . . . she brings the long-forgotten teenage sensation of drowning in life‘s uncomprehended complexities horribly alive." The Times "An intriguing and disturbing work which shimmers with edgy brilliance." Sunday Herald