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'Lou Connor, a precocious, gifted, and unhappy sixteen-year-old, is offered a place as an exchange student in the United States, something that she hopes will take her far away from her bleak life of poverty in Sydney, Australia. Having endured a childhood with an emotionally crass, deadbeat family, she welcomes the opportunity to live the middle-class life she has long dreamed of. But soon after she moves in with her host family, the Hardings - who live in a prefabricated mansion in a nameless Chicago suburb - Lou's acute need for acceptance and love runs up against the Hardings' suffocating pursuit of a particular form of suburban perfection. How the Light Gets In is a portrait of a girl on the verge of adulthood whose world - like Holden Caulfield's before her - is full of mixed messages.' (Synopsis)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Untitled
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 24 no. 2 2010; (p. 61-62)
— Review of How the Light Gets In 2003 single work novel -
Deep Listening
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , July vol. 4 no. 6 2009; (p. 23)
— Review of This Is How 2009 single work novel ; How the Light Gets In 2003 single work novel ; Carry Me Down 2006 single work novel -
Teenage Wasteland : Adolescents and Adolescence in M. J. Hyland's Novels
"Baleiro adolescente" : adolescentes e adolescencia nas novelas de M. J. Hyland
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australia and Galicia : Defeating the Tyranny of Distance 2008; (p. 275-289) 'This paper studies the presentation of adolescence in the two novels written my M.J. Hyland, How the Light Gets In (2003) and Carry Me Down (2006). After commenting on the trans-national basis of much contemporary fiction, and Hyland's relationship to both an Australian and an Irish literary system, we discuss the concept of 'grace' as a term for defining a certain set of perceived human qualities, and how the rupture between adolescent and adult society can be seen as the apparent result of mutually confused interpretations of such qualities. Both novels are examined through the relationship between the adolescent protagonists and the various social levels on which they are seen in the works.' (p. 275)
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Call of the Young
2006
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 12 March 2006; (p. 18) -
A Rebel and the American Idiom
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 30 October 2005; (p. 14)
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Shining a Light on Teenage Alienation
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 12 July 2003; (p. 5)
— Review of How the Light Gets In 2003 single work novel -
Forget the Moral Sermon
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 19 July 2003; (p. 6)
— Review of How the Light Gets In 2003 single work novel -
Search for a Ray of Hope
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 August 2003; (p. 16)
— Review of How the Light Gets In 2003 single work novel -
Other Voices
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 October 2003; (p. 11)
— Review of The Different World of Fin Starling 2003 single work novel ; Old Jazz 2003 single work novel ; How the Light Gets In 2003 single work novel ; Junkie Pilgrim 2003 single work novel -
Sea of Possibilities
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 254 2003; (p. 53-54)
— Review of Tristessa and Lucido 2003 single work novel ; How the Light Gets In 2003 single work novel -
A Rebel and the American Idiom
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: Canberra Sunday Times , 30 October 2005; (p. 14) -
Call of the Young
2006
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 12 March 2006; (p. 18) -
Teenage Wasteland : Adolescents and Adolescence in M. J. Hyland's Novels
"Baleiro adolescente" : adolescentes e adolescencia nas novelas de M. J. Hyland
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australia and Galicia : Defeating the Tyranny of Distance 2008; (p. 275-289) 'This paper studies the presentation of adolescence in the two novels written my M.J. Hyland, How the Light Gets In (2003) and Carry Me Down (2006). After commenting on the trans-national basis of much contemporary fiction, and Hyland's relationship to both an Australian and an Irish literary system, we discuss the concept of 'grace' as a term for defining a certain set of perceived human qualities, and how the rupture between adolescent and adult society can be seen as the apparent result of mutually confused interpretations of such qualities. Both novels are examined through the relationship between the adolescent protagonists and the various social levels on which they are seen in the works.' (p. 275)
Awards
- 2006-2007 shortlisted Prix Litteraire des Lyceens et Apprentis de la Region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur Award
- 2004 third Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards — Fiction
- 2004 shortlisted The Age Book of the Year Award — Fiction
- 2004 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
- Sydney, New South Wales,
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Chicago,
Illinois,
cUnited States of America (USA),cAmericas,