April 2021 Book Review

The Speed of Light

Elissa Grossell Dickey

Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Published March 2021

290 pages

This is a debut novel by this author who is a former journalist and now works in high education. 

This story is about a year in the life of Simone Archer, who is newly diagnosed with MS and meets the man of her dreams on a snowy Christmas night. After several months of dating, she is falling in love. But when her new boyfriend is described as a ‘fixer’ by his mother, she distrusts his feelings for her and calls it quits. Along with her parents, brother, best friend and work colleagues, this story comes to life.

Working in public relations for a small private college in South Dakota, whose enrollment is slipping, she faces a shooting incident at work that deepens her resolve to live her life to the fullest, despite her struggles with chronic illness and anticipated problems ahead.

Fast paced and compelling prose that made me zip through this story.