Wherever There Is Light: A Novel
By Peter Golden
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Sometimes falling in love is the most courageous act.
Julian Rose is only fifteen when he leaves his family and Germany for a new life in 1920s America. Initially struggling, he eventually finds his way—first by becoming one of the preeminent bootleggers on the East Coast, and later by amassing a fortune in real estate.
Kendall Wakefield is a free-spirited college senior who longs to become a painter. Her mother, the daughter of a slave and the founder of an African-American college in South Florida, spends her days running the institution and trying to find a suitable match for her only daughter.
One evening in 1938, she hosts a dinner that reunites Julian with his parents, who have been rescued from the Nazis by her college. There, Kendall and Julian meet for the first time, and from that unlikely encounter begins a thirty-year, on-again off-again affair that will take the lovers from Miami Beach to Greenwich Village to postwar life in Paris. Throughout their travels, they will encounter the likes of Sartre, Picasso, and a host of other artists, writers, and intellectuals just as they are in the process of redefining culture for a new generation. Through it all, their longing for each other remains a constant in the ceaseless sweep of time.
Wherever There Is Light is an absorbing, panoramic tale of twentieth-century America and an unforgettable story of defiant love that “is epic and truly felt” (Kirkus Reviews).
Peter Golden
Peter Golden is an award-winning journalist, historian, novelist, and the author of nine books. He has interviewed Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush (41); Secretaries of State Kissinger, Haig, and Shultz; Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin, Peres, and Shamir; and Soviet President Gorbachev. His latest novel, Nothing is Forgotten, which explores the connection between the Holocaust and the Cold War, is published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster. He lives outside Albany, New York.
Read more from Peter Golden
Comeback Love: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing Is Forgotten: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Darkest Hours: New York County Leadership?& the Covid Pandemic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoverning on the Ground: The Past, Present, and Future of County Government Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Wherever There Is Light
Related ebooks
The Fighting Edge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBad Boy: An Inspector Banks Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Earth Alert! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeloved Enemy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Slippage: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Devil You Know Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlonde Hair, Blue Eyes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Teacher: John Fulghum Mysteries, #4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spanish Lies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Gamekeeper's Daughter Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Kona Winds Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shining City: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding David: Old spymasters never retire, they just change direction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCold Summer Wind: Book Two of the Hot Winter Sun Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Brother Quest: The Luchettis, #3 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Julia's Spirit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silver's Bane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Virgin Courtesan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emerald Oasis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove in the Dark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scripted Murder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStay Awhile Longer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWar Babies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJulia's Mending Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCloudy Jewel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Double for the Toff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running Wild Novella Anthology Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaynely A Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Fiction For You
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Queen's Gambit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prophet Song: A Novel (Booker Prize Winner) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tender Is the Flesh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Prejudice: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nigerwife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Woman in the Room: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anna Karenina: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Salvage the Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Wherever There Is Light
16 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gripping story telling. Sweeping scope that was honed impeccably with not an unnecessary sentence anywhere to be seen. These characters will stay with me for some time. Very thankful to have won this copy in a Goodreads Giveaway.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a captivating love story between a Jewish bootlegger and an artist Black girl through WWII and beyond. Their pasts as well as their different races make being together difficult.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5TOO MUCH dialog. I gave it up. Too many names. Too ugh not my style.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well, this book was definitely a meaty, thought-provoking read. Dealing with heavy subjects like race, prejudice, and war, there were several times where I had to just stop and digest the material, reflecting on its relevance to today’s world as well as on the times it portrays.I liked that the author wasn’t afraid to delve into these heavier topics. Interracial relationships and the history that go along with them are as relevant today as they were then. The judgment that society piles on such unions and their progeny is heart-breaking; every time that Julian and Kendall faced down those bigots and gave them one-four, I cheered. The author delves into murder, lynching, racial pressure from both sides of the color spectrum to not mix, and betrayal while telling this gripping story.I fell in love with Julian almost immediately. He’s tough, gritty, determined, intelligent, and protective as hell. He doesn’t give a fig what society makes of him, his views, or his life; he’ll live as he dang well pleases and woe betide anybody who stands in his way or threatens his own. I admire his viewpoint on life and its issues; it’s one I hope I can adopt some day.Kendall I’m a bit more mixed on. I do like her grit and her pluck in pursuing her dreams. She wasn’t going to let familial pressure steer her onto a predetermined road; she was going to pursue her dreams of travel and art no matter what it took.Her attitude towards how society viewed her relationship with Julian and her unwilling-ness to defend it and him, though, got on my nerves. Julian didn’t hesitate to throw pie in someone’s face after a derogatory slur directed her way; however, when the opposite happened, she didn’t say a word, just looked in the other direction and pretend that nothing happened. She also let the pressure that society put on race and her relationship keep her from building a life with Julian and so hurting both herself and him in the process. A part of me felt like she didn’t deserve Julian because she wasn’t willing to meet him halfway in the fight against society’s expectations and prejudice.Despite some reservations on how Kendall was sometimes portrayed, overall I really enjoyed this book. It tells a great story that doesn’t hesitate to explore material that other authors might shy from. The main leads were strong enough to carry the story and thematic material, giving these a human face and making everything very personal. Highly recommended to lovers of historical fiction!Note: Book received for free from publisher via GoodReads FirstReads program in exchange for honest review.