Scattered Light - (Mary Donahue Chronicles) by Martha Engber (Paperback)

About the Book

In this gripping sequel to Winter Light, attorney Mary Donahue must confront old trauma and risk everything when the Ugandan human rights lawyer she loves is threatened. A powerful novel of resilience and the courage it takes to face the past.

Book Synopsis

"Heartbreakingly real... a unique literary triumph." Byddi Lee, author of Barren

When 36-year-old attorney Mary Donahue of Chicago meets the surprising man of her dreams, she discovers that to love is to risk learning who you really are and what happened to you.

SCATTERED LIGHT is the sequel to WINTER LIGHT, an IPPY Gold Medal winner in YA, in which teen Mary fights to save herself during the blizzard winter of 1978-79 from the poverty and addiction that plague her family. Only when the real storm hits does she learn how little distance exists between success and failure, life and death.

SCATTERED LIGHT begins in 1999. After years of insulating herself from further physical, emotional and financial harm, Mary falls in love with a humble, but world-famous Ugandan human rights lawyer who barely escaped Idi Amin's butcherous regime.

When his life is endangered, Mary has no choice but to fight for him as she once did for her teen self. Almost losing him dredges up the trauma of her youth, a festering wound that can only be healed by an apparent enigma: to protect herself, she has to bare her soul.

Hair-raising, yet inspiring, SCATTERED LIGHT illuminates a basic truth, that to fully love others, you have to love yourself.

Review Quotes

"Great read! A breathtaking story about what it is to love, complete with sparkling chemistry, snappy dialog, and heaps of suspense." Leslie K Simmons, author of Red Clay, Running Waters

"SCATTERED LIGHT is a compassionate and haunting tale of PTSD-an electrifying sequel to WINTER LIGHT that stands alone in its power. Martha Engber delivers a vivid, visceral portrait of a woman caught between the jagged edges of past trauma and the fragile hope of new love. With language that is both precise and lyrical, Engber navigates the nebulous terrain of memory, survival, and healing with remarkable insight and sensitivity... SCATTERED LIGHT is a unique literary triumph about how the past never truly leaves us-and how the light we scatter can still find its way home." Byddi Lee, author of Barren and other novels

"At one point in Martha Engber's taut, masterfully paced novel her protagonist, Mary Donahue, asks, "Why does anyone fall in love?" That is the question Engber skillfully examines in the mesmerizing Scattered Light. In the short span of two years, Mary-a dart-throwing, hard-driving attorney-navigates the confusing, sometimes suspenseful complexities of new love. Mary experiences the safety and comfort it brings, as well as the emotional battering ram love can become. With prose that sings on the page, Engber lays bare the souls of her characters, then somehow magically stitches them back together. You can't ask more from a novel." Scott Gould, author of Peace Like a River

"Scattered Light is the moving and propulsive story of a self-contained woman who dares to love a good man, faces the threat of losing him, and reawakens old demons in order to save him and, ultimately, herself. Mary Donahue, a white woman from Chicago who escaped poverty to become a labor lawyer, and Damba Rugundi, a Black man from Uganda who escaped terrorism to become a professor and human rights lawyer, meet cute at a deli counter. This flirtatious opening scene, which combines playful humor with deadly seriousness, entices readers to ride an emotional roller coaster of international intrigue and personal discovery. Damba is kidnaped by drug traffickers in a small African nation and Mary, determined to fight for his life, enters a minefield of uncertainty, taking bold action that will either save, or doom, him. A taut and talented writer, Engber intensifies the suspense by making the shadow of danger inseparable from the fear of loss. The plotting is fast-paced, the characters are well drawn, and the writing is immersive. Winter Light, the first book in the Mary Donahue trilogy, revealed the "why" behind Mary's dread of exposure. Scattered Light dramatizes "how" she opens herself to public scrutiny and the high price she pays. When Mary says, "You risk for those who risk for you," she is referring to her clients who risk losing their jobs by filing lawsuits. Later, those words ring true for her and Damba. Mary, the lawyer, is also a champion dart player. With Scattered Light, Engber, the writer, hits the bullseye. Fortunately for readers, this author-character duo still has a third game to play." Ann S. Epstein, author of Who Cares?

"Scattered Light" is more than a great love story; it's an action-filled adventure that will keep you reading into the wee hours. Punctuated by moments of great humor, the book is an inspiring account of the profound resilience of the human spirit, and the courage it takes to be fully known to another." Carolyn R. Russell, author of Death and Other Survival Strategies