New Historical Fiction, Lush and Lavishly Detailed

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Caroline Gamon

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New Historical Fiction, Lush and Lavishly Detailed

Our columnist on the month’s best new books.

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Caroline Gamon

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By

Alida Becker

Alida Becker was an editor at the Book Review for 30 years. She was the first winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for excellence in reviewing.

April 26, 2026

Image

The Shock of the Light

by Lori Inglis Hall

In her impressive debut,

THE SHOCK OF THE LIGHT (Pamela Dorman Books, 405 pp., $30),

Hall merges the familiar high-stakes drama of World War II fiction with a less familiar sort of personal drama, turning heroic conventions inside out. Fittingly, her central characters are fraternal twins, the children of a pacifist British don, whose fates will irrevocably diverge when they volunteer to serve their country.

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