Broken Light

Harris’s (A Narrow Door) latest timely thriller follows 48-year-old Bernie, who is wearily confronting menopause and feeling unremarkable and overlooked. When a woman jogger is murdered in her neighborhood, however, the public’s callous response awakens something within her—a simmering rage, along with long-dormant supernatural powers that she had as a child. Though she had always tried to tamp down her abilities, now she unleashes them with disturbing consequences. Harris sharply comments on society’s tendency to give a pass to men’s harmful behaviors. At the same time, she deftly weaves inclusion and acceptance into the narrative, demonstrating that current societal norms can harm people of all genders. Narrator Imogen Stubbs creates the perfect voice for Bernie, first depicting her as doleful and hopeless but soon allowing a note of humor and wonder to enter her voice. Listeners will likely cheer for Bernie’s escape from the confines of her life but may also feel apprehensive as they wait for the fallout from her tampering.