Cover Image: The Light Within Us

The Light Within Us

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Member Reviews

This book is set in 1890s England
The premise devolves into the oppression that women suffered in this time
The writing is so captivating
A great historical fiction saga

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A heart warming book that truly moved me. I loved the characters and their unique qualities. I adored the storyline and couldn't turn the pages fast enough to discover what would happen as the story concluded.

A definite must read.

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4.5 Stars

A beautifully woven and wonderfully atmospheric family drama set in Cornwall, Charlotte Betts’ The Light Within Us is the first title in what promises to be a superb trilogy following the life of talented painter Edith Fairchild.

The future looks bright and promising for Edith Fairchild. Set to marry handsome and charismatic Benedict, a long and happy life of marital bliss awaits her. With Benedict having inherited Spindrift House in Cornwall from his late aunt Hester, an excited Edith cannot wait until she becomes Benedict’s wife. Yet, all her hopes and dreams for a happy future are shattered when her honeymoon turns sour. A shocked, heartbroken and vulnerable Edith feels betrayed and uncertain of the future she had once been so sure of. Unable to think straight, she unwisely finds herself giving into temptation and indulging in a moment of madness that will have dangerous and devastating consequences.

Pregnant with another man’s child and burdened by the heavy weight of her secret, Edith decides to dedicate herself completely to her art. Edith is determined to make Spindrift House a budding community for artists.
Joined by her friends, Clarissa and Dora, and by Pascal, the father of her child, Edith refuses to let anyone or anything come between her and her art, however, that soon proves to be easier said than done. Spindrift House was meant to be an idyllic sanctuary for artists but it is soon jeopardized by secrets, deceptions and insecurities that threaten to tear this paradise apart for ever. Edith has already lost so much, she is not prepared to lose Spindrift House as well, but will she manage to hold on to this little corner of the world that means everything to her? Or is she destined for further heartbreak and disappointment?

Charlotte Betts writes wonderfully immersive historical novels readers love losing themselves into and The Light Within Us is the latest in a long line of evocative, enthralling and enjoyable tales sure to hold readers spellbound. Written with flair, style and confidence, The Light Within Us is a novel set at the turn of the century that touches the heart and lifts the spirit.

Edith is a fascinating character who is strong, resilient, resourceful, but vulnerable and human too. She is a heroine who is not always perfect, but who makes mistakes and errors of judgements which makes her all the more easy to relate to.

A wonderfully written historical novel, Charlotte Betts’ The Light Within Us is another surefire winner by this talented writer.

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Things don't bode well for Edith from the start of her marriage. Whilst they honeymoon in France, accompanied by friends, things take an unwelcome turn. Upon the return to Spindrift, joined by friends Clarissa, Dora & Pascal, Edith discovers all is not as well with Spindrift as appeared. Hugh Penrose is incredibly annoyed that Benedict is the owner of a house that he believes is rightfully his. Thus there is a lot of contempt towards the Fairchilds and their friends.
Benedict doesn't prove to be the husband and father Edith expected and she soon finds herself turning Spindrift into an artists community by the sea. As the artists' talents flourish, life proves far from easy. Secrets continuously threaten to destroy the community they have worked so hard to build.
This is book one of a trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is beautifully written and I ver much look forward to the next instalments.

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Historical fiction sagas are one of my favourite genres and Cornwall is one my favourite locales. The first of three books, THE LIGHT WITHIN US by Charlotte Betts has got the trilogy off to a fantastic start and I cannot wait for the next one "The Fading of the Light". The only problem is that I now have to wait till January 2021!

Beginning in 1891, Edith marries her beloved Benedict and the couple honeymoon in the South of France with a group of their artist friends from the Slade. An interesting way to spend one's honeymoon - though not unheard of in Victorian times - they meet Pascal, cousin to one of their friends Wilfred, staying at his beautiful villa in Provence. The group spend their time painting, sketching, eating and drinking and basically having a wonderful time.

Having not long graduated from the Slade, Edith begins sketching in an attempt to find her niche whilst her new husband Benedict spends his time laughing and drinking and pretty much anything but painting. When he does produce something, Edith feels it is lacking and somewhat wooden but when she verbally makes this observation, Benedict is enraged and mortified. He in turn decides to ignore his wife until she apologises, humiliating her at every turn. The honeymoon now over, Edith devotes all her energy to painting with some delightful results.

Then one afternoon, missing the closeness she shared with her husband, Edith goes in search of Benedict to try and put their differences aside and move forward in their marriage. What she didn't expect was to walk in on something so shocking, leaving her both humiliated and ashamed by the discovery that in her distress she finds herself in the comfort of another's arms. By the time the group return to Cornwall, Edith finds herself pregnant with his child.

Too ashamed to reveal her secret, Edith resolves to reconcile with Benedict in the hope he will accept the child as his own. By this time, Benedict has shown that he is not the man Edith had thought him to be and so she makes the best of things by devoting herself to her art and creating a community of artists at Spindrift House.

Soon after the friends arrive, they discover the truth behind Benedict's inheritance of Spindrift House and are soon ostracised by the locals, the source of which coming from the Penroses of Cliff House whose family had once owned Spindrift House. For once, Benedict is not to blame but that doesn't stop vicious gossip being spread about the artists living a depraved and bohemian lifestyle.

The story revolves primarily around Edith and Benedict and the difficulties in their marriage, along with their friends who live in the remote house just outside of Port Isaac. Each friend has their own unique talent and shine in their own particular way. Clarissa finds her niche in designing jewelery from sea glass, Dora becomes an illustrator of children's stories whilst Pascal, like Benedict and Edith, is a painter. Benedict, however, has always been jealous of his wife's talent as a better artist than he is.

Benedict is a volatile and disagreeable character who is both lazy and envious of Edith's greater talent. He spends more time drinking and cavorting at the local pub than painting and soon funds are fast depleting that the group must find a way to bring more income into Spindrift House. Edith decides to open the house to other artists, renting out rooms and outbuildings, and open a gallery for passing tourists. However life at Spindrift House was never going to be easy as the community of friends and artists find themselves facing eviction and poverty as well as being ostracised by a number of shopkeepers and residents in the village. But Edith is determined to find a way to keep them at Spindrift House and the threat of eviction far from reality.

THE LIGHT WITHIN US is well told tale that spans several years approaching the end of the 19th century. It is meticulously researched with a wonderful backdrop that brings life to both the story and the characters, each of whom are all carefully developed. Pascal, the French artist, is likable from the start who always seems to be there for Edith when her husband clearly is not. Dora, who did not grow up in the social circles of class as her friends, teaches them all to cook and how to keep house and who becomes one of the most dependable characters in the story. Clarissa, I did not like at the beginning, but her story unfolds we discover she is nursing a secret backstory that will break your heart. There are the other artists who also move into their community - Wilfred, Julian, Augustus and spinster sisters Mabel and Maude (I think?) - who band together when Edith needs them most. Tension is supplied by the vindictive neighbours, the Penroses, along with another secret that lingers on the edge of the story.

An absorbing and compelling tale, THE LIGHT WITHIN US is wonderful easy to read book, with the most difficult thing about it is not being able to put it down!

A poignant and engrossing read, THE LIGHT WITHIN US is a fascinating story that I strongly recommend for lovers of historical fiction. As the first in the trilogy, I cannot wait for the next one to see where Edith and her friend's stories lead.

My first read by Charlotte Betts and it won't be my last!

I would like to thank #CharlotteBetts, #NetGalley and #Piatkus for an ARC of #TheLightWithinUs in exchange for an honest review.

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I absolutely loved this book. I savoured every word and was dreading the end... never have I been more relieved to realise it’s the first in a trilogy! I hope the author has the following books well underway as I can’t wait to read them.

A real strength of this beautiful novel is the way the author brings the characters to life. You can’t help but form strong opinions about them and you will them to succeed and care deeply about them. I really loved the women in this book. They are all strong, impressive women and I’d be hard pressed to choose a favourite. Edith is brave, Dora is kind and Clarissa (who has the most interesting back story) is so resilient! The author does a great job with Benedict and I look forward to seeing what he will try next.

This is a wonderful, easy to read book and I hardly put it down once I’d started. I can’t wait to read the next instalment! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

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I loved this book. I’m a real sucker for sagas and stories that follow a group of characters over the years, and this trilogy promises to do just that. The first of the three books, The Light Within Us, has got the trilogy off to a brilliant start.

Set in beautiful Cornwall, a group of artist friends, who’d studied together at The Slade, and each of whom had a reason not to want to live in their home, come together to form a community in Spindrift House, a large house with tremendous potential, which had recently been left to Benedict Fairchild by his late aunt Hester.

The novel opens in the early 1890s, shortly before Benedict’s marriage to Edith. After their wedding, they go to France on their honeymoon. Travelling with them are some of their friends from the Slade. This is one of the many interesting things that I learned from the novel – in Victorian times, it wasn’t uncommon for a couple to go on their honeymoon accompanied by their friends.

By the time that the friends return from France, where they’d stayed with Pascal, a cousin of Wilfred, one of the friends travelling with Benedict and Edith, they had decided to live together in Spindrift House, in what would be a community of artists.

But also, by the time they return, Edith has been devasted by something she’d learned about her husband, and she’d done something that would haunt her throughout the novel.

The story revolves around Benedict and Edith and the difficulties in their marriage, and around the friends who comprise the artists' community, particularly Clarissa and Dora. Each of the friends has his or her own particular talent. Both Benedict and Edith are painters, Dora is to become a illustrator of children stories, and Clarissa is drawn into jewellery design by the beautiful sea glass she finds on the beaches near Spindrift House. Pascal, who later joins them, is a painter of considerable talent, and Julian, another late arrival, is a photographer. The glimpse into the lives of these varied artists is fascinating.

With a character as volatile as Benedict, who is both lazy and envious of his wife’s greater talent, life in Spindrift House was never going to be easy. But it’s made even more difficult by the open hostility of the neighbouring Penrose family. Hugh Penrose firmly believes in his right to Penrose House, and is determined to make life for the artists as uncomfortable as possible, first of all by setting the residents of the nearby town against the community. Rumour spreads fast in a small town, and Edith and her friends soon find themselves ostracised by a number of the shopkeepers and residents.

Other characters are gradually introduced, each one drawn with a care that makes them step off the pages. Their interaction is one of the elements that propel the novel.

The novel is meticulously researched, but the research never gets in the way of the story. It makes one very glad to be born in the 21st century, and not in Victorian times, where women had no rights of their own and were seen as their husbands’ chattels. Divorce in those days was open only to wealthy men. Woman had no such recourse, but would suffer from the social stigma. Furthermore, in the case of divorce, the children would be given to the husband, not the wife. This gives Benedict a hold over Edith, who falls pregnant early in their marriage. There are signs in the novel, however, that women are beginning to assert their independence.

The Light Within Us is a real page-turner, and I’m very much looking forward to reading the next stage of the journey through the lives of those who inhabit Spindrift House. Highly recommended.

My thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a free copy of the novel.

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This is the first in a trilogy and I can't wait for the next one! It's the story of a group of friends who trained together at the Slade school of Art in 1890s and then set up home together in North Cornwall. As well as offering a fascinating insight into the world of art and creativity at this time, the other theme that is explored is the tenuous position of women at this period. A single woman was considered to be under the jurisdiction of her father, and a married woman under that of her husband, regardless of their behaviours. This was an absorbing tale and highly recommended.

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It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last because it was brilliant.
You can love or hate the well thought characters but you cannot help being attracted by them and turning pages as fast as you can because you to know what's next.
The style of writing is great as the story telling and I loved the vivid historical background.
It's a poignant, engrossing and fascinating story that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

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