Anna Lyndsey was a perfectly normal woman living in England; her face got a bit irritated after staring at a computer all day under fluorescent lights but she was managing. She left her job and moved in with her sympathetic boyfriend, Pete, hoping her situation was temporary. Unfortunately her light sensitivity only got worse and her condition made it difficult to get to doctors who might know how to help her. She slowly began barricading herself inside and resigning herself to a fate worse than death in some ways.
“Most of the time, I do not want to die. But I would like to have the means of death within my grasp. I want to feel the luxury of choice, to know the answer to “How do I bear this?” need not always be “Endure.”
Her boyfriend (turned eventual husband) is a saint. He has made Anna’s life in the dark possible and when she begins to go through a state of remission he creates a light proof tent to drive her to places outside their neighborhood to walk around in during dusk. Their relationship isn’t perfect, he goes on numerous trips without her in an effort to have a normal life free of resentment, but overall he is the hero in this story.
Interspersed throughout Anna’s story are “Games to Play in the Dark” and other “tips” to coping in a life without light.
This is not a perfect memoir, the time line and the pacing is a bit off, but it is a captivating story that makes you appreciate ever light switch you turned on today.
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