New Light a novel by Annette Gilson  ISBN 0-930773-77-2 2007 ISBN 978-0-930773-77-9

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Beth Martin feels she's wasted her life. She goes to St. Louis to visit her college roommate and get her bearings. But at a party she has what she can only call a vision, disconcerting but compelling. She meets a man who introduces her to a visionary community called New Light. She is befriended by some of its members, and also meets its charismatic leader, known as The Mother. Beth is intrigued by the community's openness to sexual and emotional experimentation, but is also disturbed by The Mother's enormous power over its members. In the end she must address questions of faith and loyalty, tolerance, jealousy and desire.
 

"New Light is a lively, intelligent piece of fiction. It offers a reader an interesting and insightful excursion into the world of contemporary American utopian/communal life. It is a story that is both intriguing in itself and one that also stands in the American line of fiction about utopian experiments. The main character is sympathetic and engaging, and tells the story in a fluent and compelling way. New Light is a romance that works on a number of levels, from the literal interaction of the main character and her new friend Houdini to that of the social and historical and philosophical matters conjured by her tale. The scenes move along with buoyancy and an expert sense of pacing. Clearly Gilson is a professionally mature writer who holds to high standards of craft and art."--Alan Cheuse