The Valley of Light: A Book Review

Terry Kay, The Valley of Light (New York: Washington Square Press, 2003) 239 pages

Three years after the end of World War II, a drifter is walking across the Southeast, traveling from one fishing hole to another. Noah Locke’s gift is for fishing. He’d served in the Army during the war and was at the liberation of Dachau. In his travels, an old man tells him about the “Valley of Light” and the large bass that resides in a lake there. Noah discovers the lake near the small community of Bowerstown in the North Carolina Mountains, not far from the Georgia border. Stopping in town to pick up some coffee, he quickly becomes friends of Boyd who runs the local store. After they spend time together fishing, the word spreads about this strange fisherman who seems to have a gift to catch fish when no one else can. Boyd encourages Noah to stick around till the following weekend for an upcoming fishing tournament and hires him to paint his store. Throughout the week, Noah also befriends Eleanor, a young widow whose husband committed suicide a few years after he came back from serving in Army in Europe. Noah learns the terrible truth of Eleanor’s husband (which he doesn’t share) along with the reason why the lake on which he has camped (home of the large bass) is known as the Lake of Grief.

Kay is a wonderful writer. You can almost taste Noah’s coffee and Eleanor’s pan-fried chicken with butter-rich creamed potatoes. You can almost see the light coming into the valley in the morning, burning off the fog. You can almost feel the heat of mid-day and the sounds of crickets and frogs and night. Reading the story, you get the sense of the goodness that is deep down in most people as they come together to help those in need. There’s a magical quality to Kay’s words and the images he draws.

This is a book about gift and about hope. Noah uses his gift of fishing in a way that brings hope to the people of the valley. It’s an enjoyable read even if Noah never owned a fly rod.