The Professor Of Light

This is the story of young Meggie Singh and her father, a charming, befuddled professor of philosophy from the Caribbean. Meggie grows from childhood to the brink of the being an adult, groomed by her father in a rich mix of philosophy and storytelling which illuminates the lost history of her family scattered over India, Guyana, America and England. Now older, she learns to recognise the scratch of his pen on paper, the curves of his thoughts, as he struggles to write a book on the nature of light. The paradox of light, both particle and wave, comes to resonate with the larger questions of identity and immigration, of belonging and moving on. The Professor of Light is a gripping depiction of the intense bond between a father and a daughter—a father who is driven mad in his quest to understand light, and a devoted daughter who risks falling off the edge with him. Marina Budhos has written a novel of passion and logic, one that illuminates what it means to grow up and to grow apart.