What Light Was by Shawn by Callaway Hays

What Light Was by Shawn by Callaway Hays | Book Review

"What Light Was" is a truly unique and thoughtful book that beautifully blends history, literature, and emotion. This is not your typical novel; rather, it feels more like entering the minds and hearts of well-known authors like Mary Shelley and F. Scott Fitzgerald and their families. The book is written in a creative style, combining dialogues, poetic verses, and deep reflections.

It takes you back to different times and places, yet everything feels connected through the universal struggles of love, ambition, reputation, and the need to be remembered.

The story mainly follows two important threads. One is about Mary Shelley, the woman behind Frankenstein. After losing her reputation and feeling abandoned by the two people she admires most — her father and her lover — Mary finds strength again when her book is finally published.

The other thread is about F. Scott Fitzgerald, the famous author of The Great Gatsby. A century later, Scott struggles with his own problems, fearing he’s losing his audience and his wife while working on his book about the Shelleys. Their stories mirror each other in such a beautiful, sad, and honest way.

The fears of Mary and Scott were different, but the path to fight them was the same. The book looks into the psychological aspects of fear and darkness that fills one's mind due to fear and how difficult it is to find light within that darkness. The journey is not just to find light but to understand what that light means, and the author has written it with a penchant.

Through a blend of reflective prose, poetic fragments, and philosophical conversations, the author weaves a tapestry that feels intimate and timeless. Mary’s emotional resurgence after heartbreak and rejection runs parallel to Fitzgerald’s struggles with his fading fame and fractured marriage.

The brilliance of the book lies in how these seemingly distant lives mirror each other, exposing the universal threads of love, creative hunger, and personal redemption. The settings, from old libraries and quiet writing desks to the grandeur of villas and literary salons, are brought to life with vivid tenderness.

Overall, this book is not a quick read; rather, it is a story that you should sit with, think about, and keep with you. For readers drawn to introspective, literary fiction, this is a powerful and unforgettable journey.

Purchase here.

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