Light Come, Light Go
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Pub Date 1 Sep 2026 | Archive Date 6 Oct 2026
Saltbone Press | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
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Description
Portland. A limestone island off the Dorset coast, tethered to England by a single road and a thread of pebble beach. Three prisons. Ancient quarries. Six hundred years of secrets buried in the rock.
In 1999, William Delaney arrives with his two daughters, fleeing a collapsed marriage and hoping the island's history might inspire a book. What none of them expect is the island to reach back.
In 1348, a sailor named Galfridus returns home to find the Black Death has come ashore before him — carried, perhaps, by his own ship's crew. As the plague moves through the community, something older and stranger moves with it.
Seven centuries apart, two families are pulled toward the same stone, the same crack in the earth, the same white-haired girl who will not stay dead.
Layered like the island's own geology — from Rubble on the surface down through Kimmeridge Clay to the Basal Shell Bed below — Light Come, Light Go is a novel about what the ground beneath us holds: the dead, the past, and the things that refuse to become either.
For readers of Sarah Waters, Andrew Michael Hurley, and Alan Garner.
Content notes: plague and bodily decay; child in peril; supernatural violence including decapitation; some animal harm in a ritual context; depictions of grief and mental decline.
A Note From the Publisher
Ebook: 9781066685714
Additional Book Formats with (ISBN-13):
Ebook: 9781066685714
Advance Praise
"Castle weaves a tapestry where history is not just a collection of dates, but a heavy, hungry entity embedded in the very stone of the island. An author to watch in 2026."
— Advance reader review, StoryOrigin
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781066685707 |
| PRICE | £14.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 600 |
Available on NetGalley
Average rating from 10 members
Featured Reviews
Brittany T, Reviewer
Whew, what a time!
Light Come, Light Go is less about family and history and more about an island that uses its inhabitants to feed.
In return, the cast of characters in this book is "gifted" with extraordinary abilities and even more interesting stories to tell. This connection between land and the people that live there is prevalent throughout the book, in both the 1300s and the 90s.
"You can't become at one with the world and at the same time be so bloody determined to stand apart from it. The sky and I. The sea and I. The ground, Father. The ground and I. We must embrace it so hard that we soak in." -Galfridus to Father Thomas
And "soak in" they do.
The tempo of this book starts quickly, merging from one time to another, and maintains that pace until the end.
Although the story builds, allowing the characters time to breathe and become themselves on the page, much of that becoming gets lost towards the end, leaving the island to have the final say. I do not think this is necessarily a bad ending, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't left wanting, wishing, and thirsting for more.
***Content Warning***
Mild Animal Abuse.
Although this was a small part of the book, I think it is worth a content warning that is not prefaced in the pages I received.
I gave this book 4/5 stars, which means it was almost perfect. The writing was great, the characters were fun, and the overall plot was interesting, atmospheric, and deeply rich. My only problem was with what was left out. I think more background on the island itself would have been beneficial, along with a more satisfying ending for the main characters.
Light Come, Light Go is for fans of Slewfoot by Brom, The Fisherman by John Langan, and The Lost Village by Camilla Sten.
A HUGE thanks to Saltbone Press for allowing me to read this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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