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Sarah Painter
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In the Light of What We See Kindle Edition

by Sarah Painter (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 out of 5 stars 6,431 ratings

Brighton, 1938: Grace Kemp is pushed away by the family she has shamed. Rejected and afraid, she begins a new life as a nurse. But danger stalks the hospital too, and she’ll need to be on her guard to avoid falling into familiar traps. And then there are the things she sees…Strange portents that have a way of becoming real.

Eighty years later, Mina Morgan is brought to the same hospital after a near-fatal car crash. She is in terrible pain but recalls nothing. She’s not even sure whom to trust. Mina too sees things that others cannot, but now, in hospital, her visions are clearer than ever…

Two women, separated by decades, are drawn together by a shared space and a common need to salvage their lives.

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  1. Print length
    330 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Lake Union Publishing
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 2016
  5. File size
    1.4 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sarah Painter writes contemporary fiction with a touch of magic. Her debut novel, The Language of Spells, became a Kindle bestseller. The follow-up, The Secrets of Ghosts, is also available now. Sarah lives in rural Scotland with her children, husband, and a grey tabby called Zelda Kitzgerald. She drinks too much tea, loves the work of Joss Whedon, and is the proud owner of a writing shed.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0157ZIX6U
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lake Union Publishing (April 1, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.4 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 330 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 6,431 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Sarah Painter

Sarah Painter

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Sarah is the author of the bestselling magical novel, The Language of Spells, and its follow-up, The Secrets of Ghosts.

She has written 'book club' fiction with atmospheric settings and historical elements (In The Light of What We See and Beneath The Water), and a 'wonderfully dark and twisty' supernatural thriller, The Lost Girls.

Sarah's latest release is an exciting new urban fantasy series, Crow Investigations. Yes, she finds it hard to stick to one genre!

Before writing books, Sarah Painter worked as a freelance magazine journalist, blogger and editor, combining this ‘career’ with amateur child-wrangling (AKA motherhood).

Sarah lives in rural Scotland with her husband and children. She drinks too much tea, loves the work of Joss Whedon, and is the proud owner of a writing shed.

For more information - and to sign up to her readers' group - visit:

www.sarah-painter.com

Or join the conversation at:

www.facebook.com/sarahpainterbooks/

Praise for Sarah Painter:

'Perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen or Mary Stewart' - LisaReadsBooks

'I think Sarah Painter is one of the best at giving you a realistic look at magic and all that comes with it' - GirlsLoveToRead

'A gripping and suspenseful thriller combined with beautifully crafted characters that feel like friends.’ - Angelnetreviews

'Sarah Painter is a talented new writer, and her debut is a charming, romantic and intriguing story, with a little touch of magic. It had me enchanted' - Author Clodagh Murphy (Frisky Business, Girl in a Spin)

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
6,431 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers enjoy this book's unexpected plot and find it an awesome read. The writing is well-executed, and they appreciate the character development, with one review noting how injuries provided the main character with valuable insights. Customers find the book whimsical, with one describing it as enchanting.

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37 customers mention "Story quality"27 positive10 negative

Customers love the story of the book, finding it fascinating and unexpected, with one customer noting it includes both sweet and sad elements.

"Loved the characters once I got solidly involved in story. Such a sweet ending, really appreciated that!..." Read more

"...I also enjoyed the intertwined stories of the 2 women, in the same place, but separated by decades...." Read more

"This book was full of Potential, yet left me feeling dissatisfied when it ended...." Read more

"...The ending seemed a bit of a letdown or rather came to an abrupt finale as if the author did not know how else to finish the story...." Read more

20 customers mention "Readability"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be an awesome and well-done read, with one customer noting it's relaxing to read.

"I wasn't sure what to expect but this was a great read. Kept me wanting to keep reading even when the words were blurring because I needed to go to..." Read more

"I love mysteries and thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and had nice depth and complexity...." Read more

"...A good read still." Read more

"...all in all, a good read." Read more

13 customers mention "Writing quality"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well written, with one customer noting it's different from the author's usual style, and another highlighting the excellent editing.

"...Would recommend to all those romantics out there, well written but not sappy…" Read more

"...I felt that the author did a good job of helping the reader see the world through their eyes...." Read more

"...through the lives of the two women was very interesting and thoughtfully told...." Read more

"A very unlikely and surprising book. Different from her usual writing style, yet hauntingly familiar...." Read more

9 customers mention "Character development"9 positive0 negative

Customers love the characters in the book, with one review noting how the main character's injuries provided her with valuable insights.

"Loved the characters once I got solidly involved in story. Such a sweet ending, really appreciated that!..." Read more

"I love mysteries and thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and had nice depth and complexity...." Read more

"...They gave an added dimension to the main character. The story line with her brother seemed just an unconnected distraction." Read more

"...She also writes particularly good villains, without making them out of the range of possibility. Looking forward to more books from Sarah Painter." Read more

4 customers mention "Whimsy"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book whimsical, with one describing it as enchanting and another noting its terribly sweet nature.

"...Creative touch, well written if a bit predictable." Read more

"...Enchanting." Read more

"An unexpected story. Terribly sweet with a touch of bitter. Sarah Painter is an excellent author and I highly recommend this book." Read more

"Suspenseful, psychological, and touched with whimsy..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Kindle Customer123
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good story
    Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I wasn't sure what to expect but this was a great read. Kept me wanting to keep reading even when the words were blurring because I needed to go to bed. I've read one other of Sarah Painter's books and enjoyed it. Now I'm going to go look for another.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Karen Gosselin-Baldwin
    4.0 out of 5 stars very good, almost a mystery!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Loved the characters once I got solidly involved in story. Such a sweet ending, really appreciated that! Would recommend to all those romantics out there, well written but not sappy…
    One person found this helpful
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  • Kplitz
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I love mysteries and thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and had nice depth and complexity. I felt that the author did a good job of helping the reader see the world through their eyes. I also enjoyed the intertwined stories of the 2 women, in the same place, but separated by decades. I stayed up way too late reading because I didn't want to put this book down. Also, I bought the book myself and was not a requested reviewer as many of the other reviews apparently were. I am sure I will be purchasing other books by this author.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Kindle Customer
    3.0 out of 5 stars Missed the Mark
    Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This book was full of Potential, yet left me feeling dissatisfied when it ended. To be fair, I want feeling well when I read it, so maybe that was part of it. I enjoyed the mysterious use of imaginary birds. They gave an added dimension to the main character. The story line with her brother seemed just an unconnected distraction.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Chris
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
    Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    The story was very good, the journey through the lives of the two women was very interesting and thoughtfully told. The only criticism is the ending was a little rushed and sort of tied up in a neat bow.
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  • Margaret
    5.0 out of 5 stars Can't stop reading
    Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    A very unlikely and surprising book. Different from her usual writing style, yet hauntingly familiar.
    This book and the story line keeps you turning the pages. You only begin to realize the meeting of the past and the present in the later chapters.
    The ending seemed a bit of a letdown or rather came to an abrupt finale as if the author did not know how else to finish the story.
    A good read still.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
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  • GAIL CLEARE
    4.0 out of 5 stars Strange Story, Well Done
    Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I love the touch of supernatural in Sarah Painter's books. This one has a human ghost, and ghost birds who appear as portents of trouble to come. The birds are very unusual, never read about ghostly birds before though live ones obviously have long been seen as omens. Creative touch, well written if a bit predictable.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Karen Heenan
    5.0 out of 5 stars A spot-on ending and wonderful bad guys
    Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I've read all this author's books, and I'm not sure why I held this one until last, because it was one of my favorites. I enjoyed the dual narrative, and I appreciated that she was able to surprise me with the ending. She also writes particularly good villains, without making them out of the range of possibility. Looking forward to more books from Sarah Painter.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Two lives, entwined, birds, a hospital..
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Two women who need others but think they are surviving well alone. Lives entwined across time, both in the same hospital, needing support to survive life.

    Loved this book, read it in two days, more like this one please Sarah, not your usual style but stunningly well written.
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  • kaznik88
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good story
    Reviewed in Australia on December 8, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I enjoyed this book very much I think the main characters were very sympathetic and believable. Sarah Painter writes well.
    Report
  • Marguerite
    4.0 out of 5 stars Highly readable and a new take on the time-slip
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it in a couple of sittings. I'm a big fan of time-slip type stories, and this one worked really well, with the connection between front and back story believable, and not at all contrived (as it has been in a few I've read recently). I liked that the author was brave enough to make her front story heroine 'unlikeable' in the sense of having a really difficult character, and brave enough to make the reader work a bit at understanding her. There were some really quite emotional issues in her background that weren't glossed over or shied away from - and they easily could have been - and by and large I felt that her resolution was pretty believable too - not trite, not a simple HEA but a start.

    In terms of the back story, I thought the nurse, Grace, was an excellent complementary foil, and one with a distinct personality as opposed to a character simply created to act as a reflector of the main front story protagonist (hope this makes sense). I did feel that more of this could have been explored, but I guess then that would have meant a whole separate book. One thing I did particularly like was the 'explanation' of Grace's presence in the front story, which didn't rely on the reader believing in ghosts - but on the other hand, didn't preclude it.

    I've read one other of Ms Painter's books, a complete contrast to this one, and I must admit I was very surprised by this - in a nice way. Looking forward to more from her.
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  • Melissa
    4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
    Reviewed in Canada on April 21, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Such an interesting spin on the supernatural. Loved the appearance of the little birds. I can't wait to read more.
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  • NicShef❤️Reading
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful, yet profound story of two incredible women... Set 80 years apart
    Reviewed in Australia on March 6, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this as my Kindle First book of the month and I was utterly delighted with it. This story alternates between two independant women harbouring personnel tragedy and grief, set 80 years apart but in the same hospital. From Mina to Grace & Grace to Mina.. You are bounced between the tale of two simple British women that harbour so much pain internally. This is an unexpectedly haunting description of what seems like two very plausible stories.
    Their stories are touching and sometimes frightening, but author Sarah Painter writes engaging storylines and this is an easy read, hard to put down and with a twist of the magical. Truly, beautiful and exceptionally subtle yet profound - the author has managed to achieve this while dealing with deep and significant life events in both these ladies lives.
    Trying to piece Mina's memories together was such a unique way to read the story and unfold her truth and made the story feel far more dynamic then you'd imagine. Grace on the other hand is totally lucid and stoic and her story so incredibly sad, that you feel her channeling her grief and fear into her physical work as a nurse. "Something was broken inside her, Grace knew, with the certainty brought by pain and fear. Something had snapped and would never be repaired."
    "I wasn’t capable of feeling any more guilt than I already was. The guilt had consumed me. It was everything and I was it." I particularly liked Grace's friend Evie very much, she had real hutzpah and get up and go and added a lightness to the story which was needed.
    Things get really interesting when the two finally intersect, the hints of the paranormal take on a stronger force in the last half of the book. The only dialogue between Mina and Grace consisted of ‘Why do I see you?’ Grace shook her head. ‘That’s the wrong question.’ Yet you feel as a reader that Grace is a guardian angel for Mina.
    Mostly on face you'd think these were interesting, normal girls and the story taking place in 4 walls of a hospital a little flat, yet the writing, the intersections, the dialogue and the constant sense of dread and fear make this very special.
    Their journeys to understand the urgency of their messages are mesmerising, and as I reached the last chapters, I felt both anxious and excited. A solid 5 stars.
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