Description:
A Booklist Editor's Choice: Books for Youth in 2025
This queer love story with a dark magical twist comes from an astonishing new Irish voice - perfect for fans of Daniel Jose Older.
Be careful. The dark is listening.
Hanan is supposed to be dead. The forest outside Skenashogue sent him home alive - but changed. A strange new magic makes every emotion a physical force he can't control. Bright and gentle, fox-like Pax is everything Hanan is not. And when he touches Hanan he mutes his secret power, quiets the curse. To survive their own darknesses they'll need to be honest with each other. But Hanan isn't sure Pax will like what he finds out...
Can their love help them find their way back to the light?
Brief description: Kel Menton (they/them) is a non-binary, neurodivergent writer from Cork in Ireland. Kel works in youth theatre as a facilitator and playwright mentor. They were selected as a Young Writer Delegate for the 2021 Dublin Book Festival. They hold a master's in medieval English literature from University College Cork.
Review Quotes:
"An ethereal and mysterious debut." - Kirkus Reviews
"This atmospheric read draws on Irish mythology and the challenges of mental illness to tell a fantastical love story between Hanan, unsure if he's experiencing magic or psychosis, and Pax, an enigmatic new presence in town." - Booklist Editor's Choice: Books for Youth, 2025
"Menton was already a writer to watch but their fiction debut underlines it." - Irish Times
"Irish YA could benefit from a lot more novels like this." - Paper Lanterns Magazine
"A Fix of Light shows that even in the darkest of despair, there is always a thread of hope to be found." - Helen Corcoran, author of Queen of Coin and Whispers
"A Fix of Light will break your heart and heal it all over again." - Clara Kumagai, author of Catfish Rolling