This Little Light

Lori Lansens sets This Little Light in a near-future America where the religious right has tightened its hold on culture and law. The protagonist Rory and her best friend Feliza are sixteen, attending a high-priced abstinence pledge ball, when the night falls apart and the two of them end up on the run, accused of something they didn’t do.

The book unfolds across roughly twenty-four hours, with Rory blogging in real time as she and Feliza try to figure out where to hide and who they can trust.

Lansens is sharp about the political moment the book imagines, which feels uncomfortably close to one possible direction for current politics. The dialogue captures the way teenagers actually talk online.

For readers who liked Naomi Alderman’s The Power or Christina Dalcher’s Vox, this is in adjacent territory with a more contained, immediate feel. Quick read, hard to put down once it gets moving.