The blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage
implodes—a witty wise and heartfelt novel (Washington Post) about art and love fame and
heartbreak from the acclaimed actor writer director.A bracing meditation on fame and celebrity
and the redemptive healing power of art a portrait of the ravages of disappointment and
divorce a poignant consideration of the rites of fatherhood and manhood a novel soaked in
rage and sex longing and despair and a passionate love letter to the world of theater A
Bright Ray of Darkness showcases Ethan Hawke's gifts as a novelist as never before.Hawke's
narrator is a young man in torment disgusted with himself after the collapse of his marriage
still half hoping for a reconciliation that would allow him to forgive himself and move on as
he clumsily and sometimes hilariously tries to manage the wreckage of his personal life with
whiskey and sex. What saves him is theater: in particular the challenge of performing the role
of Hotspur in a production of Henry IV under the leadership of a brilliant director helmed by
one of the most electrifying—and narcissistic—Falstaff's of all time. Searing raw and utterly
transfixing A Bright Ray of Darkness is a novel about shame and beauty and faith and the
moral power of art.
