Radiant Shimmering Light, Sarah Selecky
Radiant Shimmering Light, Sarah Selecky
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

Radiant Shimmering Light
A Novel

Author: Sarah Selecky

Narrator: Lisa Flanagan

Unabridged: 11 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/04/2018


Synopsis

A nuanced satire—both hilarious and disconcerting—that probes the blurred lines between empowerment, spirituality, and consumerism in our online livesLilian Quick is forty, single, and childless, working as a pet-portrait artist. She paints the colored light only she can see, but animal aura portraits are a niche market at best. She’s working hard to build her brand on social media and struggling to pay the rent.Her estranged cousin has become internet-famous as “Eleven” Novak, the face of a massive feminine lifestyle empowerment brand, and when Eleven comes to town on tour, the two women reconnect. Despite twenty years of unexplained silence, Eleven offers Lilian a place at the Temple, her Manhattan office. Lilian accepts, moves to New York, and quickly enrolls in the Ascendency, Eleven’s signature program: an expensive, three-month training seminar on leadership, spiritual awakening, and marketing. Eleven is going to help her cousin become her best self: confident, affluent, and self-actualized.In just three months, Lilian’s life changes drastically: she learns how to break her negative thought patterns, achieves financial solvency, grows an active and engaged online following, and builds authentic friendships. She finally feels seen for who she really is. Success! But can Lilian trust everything Eleven says? This compelling, heartfelt satire asks us, How do we recognize authenticity when storytelling and magic have been co-opted by marketing?

About Sarah Selecky

Sarah Selecky’s breakout debut collection, This Cake Is for the Party, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book, and was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her stories have been published in the Walrus, Elle, the New Quarterly, and The Journey Prize anthology, among other publications. She is also the creator of the beloved online creative writing school, and MFA alternative, Story Is a State of Mind.

About Lisa Flanagan

Lisa Flanagan is a classically trained soprano, comedian, voice-over artist, and Earphones Award–winning narrator.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kylie

A wonderful novel, I had a smile on my face the whole time I was reading it, which I did in one day! It sees Lillian, a struggling Canadian artist who paints the auras of people's pets, reuniting with her estranged cousin Florence. Florence is now known as Eleven, and has created an empire with a web......more

Goodreads review by Steph

This is one of the most beautiful tributes to creation and creating I've ever read. Sarah's insight into the struggle of what it means to make things and be happy doing it, or, being true to oneself, juxtaposed with how to make a good living doing what you love, is electric. Not only has she accurat......more

Goodreads review by Bandit

This was meant to be a satire. It’s advertised as such, which was the main attractor for me, because I really like satires. Also, because normally I would never read a blatant chicklit thing like that. But the thing is this book just didn’t read like a satire. I’ve been trying to put a finger on it,......more


Quotes

"[She] finds plenty to make fun of in this ridiculous-yet frighteningly familiar-world.” Entertainment Weekly

"[A] hilarious debut novel about self-help gurus and the people who follow them…There’s plenty of laughs—but lots of truth, too.” Washington Post

“The author explores the power and distraction of social media, the paths to creativity, and how intense devotion to a cause can either consume one’s identity or allow one to flourish, resulting in a searing look at mass market–oriented transformation.” Publishers Weekly

“Selecky’s deadpan tone, punchy writing, and vivid characters transport readers to a specific, highly diverting world that hits close to the bone and sparks the self-reflection it’s spoofing.” Booklist

“A funny, tender, gimlet-eyed dive into the cult of self-improvement.” Kirkus Reviews

“Narrator Lisa Flanagan will have listeners laughing at this ironic coming together of two very different estranged women…Flanagan helps listeners differentiate the two women and their idiosyncrasies…This fun story told by a confident narrator will help make any jog, drive, or wait enjoyable.” AudioFile


Awards

  • Entertainment Weekly Pick
  • People Pick of the Week
  • Amazon Best Book of the Month
  • Bustle Pick