"Lightwood"

Steph Post is the author of A Tree Born Crooked (2014) and Lightwood (2017) as well as a short story writer, reader, teacher and dog lover (among many other things...).

She applied the Page 69 Test to Lightwood and reported the following:

I would have to say that page 69 is not indicative of Lightwood as a whole, but I’m glad for the chance to focus on this page, because it spotlights one of the characters of the novel who is much-loved by many, but often overlooked in reviews and promotions: Brother Felton.

When he was a child, he had kept the snakes and lizards in wooden crates inside his lean-to clubhouse made from squares of plywood and a plastic tarp. He didn’t have to worry about anyone messing with them because he was the only member of the club. He kept his turtles in a rusted bucket outside of the lean-to and they were his favorite. He named each one after an angel from the Bible.

Brother Felton, the hapless, pathetic nephew of Lightwood’s most insidious villain, Sister Tulah, is the focus of this chapter and in this scene we learn about Felton’s childhood as an orphan being raised by his malicious and megalomania aunt. Felton, unwittingly, is the catalyst for much of the drama in the novel and although he is intrinsically entangled with Sister Tulah’s criminal agenda, Felton is one of the few characters in Lightwood who often elicits pity in readers. Although he is a middle-aged adult, Brother Felton remains the gawky, unpopular loner, sitting by himself at the lunch table in the corner, desperately wishing he could hang out with the cool kids.

Fortunately, Brother Felton is far from being a static character and I believe readers will be very surprised to see his turn of fate and fortune as the Lightwood series continues.

Visit Steph Post's website.

Writers Read: Steph Post.

My Book, The Movie: Lightwood.

--Marshal Zeringue