"This naturalistic novel follows a Black environmental scientist [Mark Smith]. The story is shaped by several cataclysmic events, which suit the novel's backdrop, in which the Presidency of Barack Obama corresponds with a rise in white nationalism, though climate crisis and racially charged incidents." - The New Yorker

Mark Smith, is a sensitive thirty-seven-year-old environmental scientist of mixed race. He tries to come to terms with his mother's painful death as he goes through the stages of grief. Mark is also reassessing his relationship with his gay twin sister, Maria, a lawyer. After several failed relationships with women in college, Mark, while at his mother's funeral in Chicago, reconnects with his high school girlfriend, Christy, an artist who paints self-portraits. He now believes he has finally found true and lasting love, but the country's civil unrest and political division plague the opportunity at a second chance. Major has devised a powerful novel about the cumulative unease and random violence that grip American life and ask what we should do about it.

CLARENCE MAJOR is a novelist, poet and painter. His novels include Dirty Bird Blues (a Penguin Classic), Such Was the Season, a Literary Guild selection; My Amputations, winner of the Western States Book Award; Painted Turtle: Woman with Guitar, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year; and other novels. He has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Harvard Review, and dozens of other periodicals. Major won a National Book Award Bronze Medal and many other awards. He was elected to The Georgia State Writers Hall of Fame in 2021. Major is a distinguished professor emeritus of twentieth century American literature at the University of California at Davis.

Clarence Major's profile page

"This naturalistic novel follows a Black environmental scientist [Mark Smith]. The story is shaped by several cataclysmic events, which suit the novel's backdrop, in which the Presidency of Barack Obama corresponds with a rise in white nationalism, though climate crisis and racially charged incidents." - The New Yorker

"The language in [The Glint of Light] is music, and the story a song that gets under the skin, lingers long--I'm still singing it. Clarence Major is known as one of our best poets. With The Glint of Light, he proves himself one of our most powerful novelists, as well." --Bill Roorbach, author of Lucky Turtle

"The Glint of Light ...builds to its finale the way a Chekov story unfolds, skillfully told by this master...Major... is uniquely gifted...a national treasure." --Nancy Schoenberger, author of Long Like a River

"Told through crisp, sparse, and poetic prose...filled with philosophical insight about life, relationships, and art, this is a beautiful novel." --Jennifer Murphy, Author of Scarlet in Blue

"A potent and savvy drama ...Clarence Major delivers a fierce, suspenseful, and unsentimental [novel]... you won't want to put it down!" --Noley Reid, author of Pretend We Are Lovely

"...The Glint of Light [is] Clarence Major at his best; [it] is a literary event of great importance." --Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of A Good Cent from a Strange Mountain

"Clarence Major probes the human condition through the prism of one man's complex interior world where hope and doubt live on every page. Infused with poetic prose and skillful plot twists this page turner brings the reader to an understanding of how it is possible to emerge from loss and hardship. This book is a beauty." --Marcia Butler, author of Oslo, Maine

"I couldn't put The Glint of Light down. [It's] absorbing and informative...The novel brims with intelligence and insight...The story is uplifting and heartbreaking with some unexpected twists. I highly recommend The Glint of Light."--Carol Orange, author of A Discerning Eye

"The Glint of Life is... gut-wrenching... The result is a hypnotizing tale of the tensions between love, duty and betrayal." --Helen Benedict, author of Wolf Season

"Clarence Major's The Glint of Light gave me the gift of his intimate storyteller's voice, as if we were sitting across a table from each other, drinking coffee... It moves with poignant detail... There's so much longing in this novel, so much truth-telling. It will wise you up; it may break your heart." --Patricia Henley, author of Hummingbird House

"Monumentally moving, The Glint of Light offers a spellbinding view into the nuances of the human experience. This novel beautifully captures the length of a life and tackles the lingering effects of loss, the power of desire and the pull to self-discovery with remarkable acuity. This is an arresting read that is not to be missed." --Jennifer Maritza McCauley, author of When Trying to Return Home

"This eminently readable novel explores...death [and] love...in a subtly oblique and understanded fashion [and] the deeper malaise that afflicts society..."--Charles Lambert, author of The Children's Home

"...Clarence Major brings us a quietly stunning new novel as large in its vision as it is subtle in its unfolding. With elegance and grace, Major paints a portrait of America at a particular historical moment (the Obama years), yet the book's concerns are timeless, universal: the loss of a mother, the dance of sibling rivalry, the search for love.... Clarence Major brings the full measure of his powers to this Chekhovian tale of love and loss in an extraordinary narrative revealed through the accumulation of keenly observed ordinary detail. The novel is immersive, the story compelling, the characters memorable. The Glint of Light will linger with you long after the book is closed." --Rilla Askew, author of Fire in Beulah

"Clarence Major has written a beautiful book about love, identity, passion, family, and forgiveness. The Glint of Light is a tour de force." --Connie May Fowler, author of Before Women had Wings

"Major illuminates the quotidian, the magnificent, and the ephemeral in sharp and glittering detail. The Glint of Light is a beautiful novel of refracted memory, longing, and one man's journey through grief in the wake of his mother's death. This is a powerful divination of a life--its hauntings, astonishments, and mysteries revealed in rich and unexpected ways." --Mary Otis, author of Burst

"It's a year of wonder and sorrows for the hero of Clarence Major's wonderful new novel. The mysteries of love and betrayal, unexpected violence, and abrupt encounters with racism give hypnotic immediacy to every moment of this narrative. The Glint of Light enchanted me and when I reached the end I was overpowered by its beauty." --Elizabeth McKenzie, author of Stop That Girl

"Mark's...journey scatters light on the fractured pieces of life...he seeks renewal..." --Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, author of The Dark Path to the River

"With a cast of memorable characters and skillfully drawn background...[this] novel's authenticity is hard earned. This powerful story of coming to terms with grief will resonate with you long after reading." --Elena Gorokhova, the author of A Train to Moscow

"Clarence Major's novel is a tale of the search for love in the midst of grief...with accumulating power and urgency. It's like having a close friend talking to you at a kitchen table - at once intimate and universal - and with a note of grace." --Susan Jane Gilman, author of Donna Has Left the Building

"Clarence Major's... coming-of-age novel captures the glint of light reflected in... remembrance, grief, and revelation." --Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Machine Dreams