In a series of powerful vignettes, Where the Light Flickers tells the story of two families navigating the complexities of life in rural Appalachia.
At its heart, Where the Light Flickers is about human beings coming to terms with the knowledge of their own insignificance. For some, this struggle ends disastrously. For others, there is comfort in the fact that everyone is, ultimately, in the same boat.
“Ryan Burden writes with a dazzling combination of stoic restraint, profound insight, and poignant lyricism. This is big-hearted, undaunted, and epic storytelling miraculously broken into small, intimate canvases, all emblazoned with some of the finest sentences I’ve ever seen from a debut novelist.“
— Dean Bakopoulos, author of Please Don’t Come Back From the Moon, My American Unhappiness, and Summerlong.
“”A book of messy lives immaculately told, Where the Light Flickers is lyric, wise, and, not least, thrilling. Ryan Burden is a masterful craftsman and this debut is the exquisite result.”
— Liam Callanan, author of When in Rome and Paris by the Book.
