A Marvellous Light

A Marvellous Light (2021) Freya Marske (The Last Binding)

Set in England in 1908

Another time period I love–not yet modernity, but some of the trappings are starting to appear.

A chauffeur was not needed. Robin referred vaguely to friends of his who owned motorcars and had taught him the knack of it in Hyde Park—“ Though the speed limit’s only ten miles to the hour, in the Park. And it’s twice that in the country! This should be a lark.”

“We are man’s marvellous light / We hold the gifts of the dawn / From those now passed and gone / And carry them into the night.” Courcey spoke coolly enough that it took a moment for the rhythm to emerge. “It’s a verse from an old poem by a magician called Alfred Dufay. There’s a spell-game set to it, that children learn. The other one is just— something you say.”

Beginnings and endings are powerful. Liminal states.

The last few days had represented the most time he’d spent constantly in the company of another person in years. Robin was surprisingly easy to be around, but even so, part of Edwin felt like the Gatlings’ oak-heart clock: run-down, out of power. Needing refreshment to be any good at all.

Publisher: Tordotcom

Rating: 8.5/10

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