A Season in Lights
A Novel in Three Acts
by Gregory Erich Phillips
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date 18 Apr 2021 | Archive Date 02 May 2021
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Description
Passion, ambition and escape, in the colorful artistic underworld off-Broadway.
Cammie, a dancer in her mid-thirties, has just landed her first part in a show since coming to New York City. Yet the tug of familial obligation and the guilt of what she sacrificed to be there weigh down her dancing feet. Her lover, Tom, an older piano player, came to the city as a young man in the 1980s with a story eerily in tune with Cammie's own. Through their triumphs and failures, both learn the fleeting nature of glory, the sweetness of new love, and how a dream come true isn't cherished until it passes. The bright lights of the stage intoxicate, while degradation and despair lurk close behind the curtain. Their sagas are marred by two pandemics, AIDS in the 1980s and COVID-19 today, which ravaged the performing arts community, leaving a permanent scar on those who lived through them. The poignant intersection of their stories reveals a love affair unbound by time, reaching across decades through the notes of a piano's remembered song.
Advance Praise
“Possibly one of the most important odes to New York City’s artists and the fragility of life since Rent.”
– Nicole Evelina
"A heartfelt and moving love letter to New York City and it's artistic community." - Geoffrey Owens
Available Editions
ISBN | 9781950495122 |
PRICE | |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
A day in the life of a dancer and piano payer , span over the years , how they both made heir dreams come true , good read ,
In some ways, this is historical fiction, since it touches on multiple periods. The book has nice pacing, interesting characters, and good writing. There's some drama along the way. The focus on the arts and artists will be of interest for many readers. Recommended for literary fiction fans.
Thanks very much for the review copy for review!!
I am unclear if this was an un corrected proof, but one character’s spelling of her name changed at times from Elly to Ellie. I also found another type of he (hee).
Ending seemed abrupt after an interesting story that touched on performing artists, racism, AIDS and also a bit on COVID.
I enjoyed this book. Cammie is a dancer, trying to make a living in NYC. She befriends Tom, a pianist who plays in a local jazz bar. The story is about both of these characters, but not really about them together which I liked.
Tom definitely has the more interesting back story and I’d have liked to know a bit more about him and what happened in between the 80s and his time in the present day. I’d also like to have heard more about Charles!
Cammie is quite self centred, but most performers are. She rang very true to me! I felt her depressive episodes were rather trivialised when they could have offered actual help and advice which would have been more useful.
The descriptions of how coronavirus has decimated the arts industry was realistic and heartbreaking. We don’t yet know how well theatre and live arts will survive and the idea of a world without it is dreadful.
The book is well written and draws you in easily. I was keen to read and discover more about the characters and felt the story was truthful. It’s a gentle, impressive tale of the realities of performance and I’d recommend it to fellow performers or those who have family members in that world- as I do. It helps to give an understanding of the challenges faced by artists now and in the past. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.
An interesting book about performing artists told in different times from 1986 to 2020. The characters are diverse and appealing They live through AIDS and the COVID pandemic and the readers see how they are affected..I
I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from.Lucid House Publishing through NetGalley. The opinions expressed a entirely my own.
# ASeasoninLights #NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Lucid House Publishing for the arc of A Season in Lights.
Cammie is a dancer living in New York in 2019. Tom is a musician who moved to New York in 1986. 30 years separate their paths as artists but the story is the same. Hard work that sometimes pays off and sometimes doesn't, achieving your dreams if at all possible, and realizing that it may not all be worth it.
Phillips tells a wonderful story with two story lines set 30+ years apart. These mirror each other so well and despite different tragedies, depression and dealing with drugs and drug lords, the two stories are so intertwined and done so well.
The third act still hits really close to home taking place in March of 2020 and I think in a few years time it may be a crucial reminder or what exactly it was like and who was hurt so much during this time. The social commentary that was included in Act Three was very well done and not overpowering but still standing out and being so necessary to tell the story.
A beautiful story that deserves to be read.
Thank you to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review
Trigger warnings for this book: depression, suicide
“I had lived a season in lights. whatever came next, no one could take that away from me.”
4.5 stars. This book read as a love story for artists, musicians, dancers, and New York City. Everything good and bad about the city and artists seemed to be captured here. I usually don’t like flashbacks to other years, but I soon became as interested in Tom’s back story as I was the main character. I found part of the second part (the book is divided in to three parts) a little slow when she was back home. I also wished she found some sort of treatment for her depression. A timely and fantastic read for anyone with a dream.