Songlight
Star-crossed lovers, against-all-odds friendship, and a brutally unforgiving world make this first in a trilogy utterly unforgettable.
We're two songs joined. And there's a word for that. A harmony.
Elsa is used to hiding the most important parts of herself--her feelings for Rye, her distaste for a world ruled by men, and, most crucially, her gift of songlight. She buries that secret deep inside. In Brightland, those with songlight are called Unhumans and are abhorred. Rye is the only other person Elsa has known with songlight, and their shared bond has brought them together.
Elsa's world begins to fall apart one desperate, heart-wrenching day and she doesn't know where to turn until a girl appears before her. But the girl isn't really there--her songlight has been drawn to Elsa's frantic grief.
Elsa lives in a remote seaside village; Nightingale, her new friend, lives in a city hundreds of miles away with her father, a government official responsible for rooting out Unhumans. The two never expected to connect via songlight. But when they do, and when they realize the extent of their power, they'll be thrust in the middle of a war that threatens their very existence.
From an award-winning screenwriter making her novel debut comes this powerful, page-turning trilogy perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir and Adrienne Young.
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Moira Buffini is an Olivier Award-winning UK playwright and BAFTA-nominated screenwriter, writing many plays for the National Theatre and the West End. Films include Tamara Drewe, Jane Eyre, Byzantium, and The Dig. She cocreated and was showrunner of Hulu's Harlots. Songlight is her first novel. She lives in London.
"The multiple immersive perspectives and the anticipation this narrative will create in readers make this first installment in a planned trilogy unputdownable. Buffini captures the human spirit and all its messy and beautifully complex emotions. A brilliant character study that examines the effects of war, genocide, and misogyny." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"In this stunning YA debut, Buffini expertly juggles a complex plot. By playing off conflicting internal motivations to explore weighty topics of reproductive freedom, internalized homophobia, and state oppression, Buffini crafts a nuanced adventure, all the while dropping tantalizing hints of further conflict and hidden history broiling under the surface." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A dynamic dystopic fantasy for fans of Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes and Morgan Rhodes's Falling Kingdoms." -- School Library Journal
"Buffini weaves a setting plush with detail and world building. Songlight will appeal to readers who enjoyed Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale." -- Booklist
"Vivid and powerful." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Action-packed and simmering with fury, Songlight leads a chorus of fierce young narrators coming into their power. Like the hook in your favorite song, her melody will stay in your head long after you turn the last page." -- Michael Grant, NYT bestselling author of the Gone series
"With thoughtful nods to Atwood and Le Guin, Moira Buffini crafts a post-apocalyptic future that confronts harsh and timely realities, yet still shimmers with an empowering undercurrent of optimism and agency. Readers will eagerly await the next installment in this high-stakes trilogy featuring an unforgettable cast of characters. Sweeping, cinematic, and luminous." -- Rebecca Caprara, award-winning author of Spin
"A dark yet piercingly hopeful tale, Songlight imagines a dystopian world on the brink of revolution, courtesy of its teen protagonists who dare to love. Buffini's ethereal prose and harrowing plot twists kept me reading long into the night." -- Lyssa Mia Smith, author of Revelle
