Intoxicating, harrowing and, from beneath a waterfall of wickedness, enduring and uplifting love. Here is a beautifully written story of our times. – Bob Brown, former senator and leader of the Australian Greens

When Matthew thinks about his youth, he pictures it as a mad, crazy scramble for meaning. Schoolboy violence and grubby teachers. Dreams of peace, revolution, free love. It all coalesces into a confusing, toxic soup of teenage hormones.

That summer, though, was a golden time. It was just Matthew, his brother, and the wilderness: the lake, the mountains, the forest.

Fifty years later he sets out with his two sons to rediscover the remote cabin he helped build in the Tasmanian highlands. There, he is forced to reckon with a troubled past.

Part coming-of-age story, part psychological thriller, The Quality of Light is a profound meditation on memory, masculinity, and the healing power of nature.