Apostles Of Light

APOSTLES OF LIGHT

by Ellen Douglas

 

Nomination: National Book Finalist 1974

 

Date Read: October 6, 2022

 

Apostles Of Light reminds me somewhat of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest because of the same powerlessness, the same bleak acknowledgement that there’s no escape, the denial of personhood. Martha has lived with her mother all her life, having never married and left home. Martha does, however, have her long-term paramour Lucas, whose wife has finally died. When Martha’s mother dies, the family convenes to discuss her future; it has become abundantly clear Martha cannot live on her own.

 

Enter Howie, a long-term friend of the family and his wife having just died does not want to live on his own. Having him move in would provide Martha some company and protection and a small income from his rent. Howie, however, has moved in with grand plans that only become apparent after it’s too late. Howie realizes that Lucas, yes that Lucas, whose wife has also died is now looking for a small apartment or living situation. The family agrees to also let Lucas move in.

 

With this last move, Howie presents to the family his plan of turning Martha’s house into a profitable old person’s home, opening up her vast house to others looking for a place for their elderly parents to have companionship and support. The family hems and haws about it but ultimately decides to go along, motivated by the “service to the community” aspect and money. Apparently, in the 1970s an old person’s home is not a commonality.

 

And so the home is turned into Golden Age Community Home (or something like that). Howie takes charge and hires two questionable nurses – one with no training and one with a sketchy background that doesn’t really care about people. Lucas and Martha immediately know something is wrong as Howie talks about getting people on tranquilizers, people are left to sit in their own mess without being changed. Lucas becomes a thorn in their side and his punishment is to be put on insane amounts of tranquilizers.

 

Lucas works up the courage to discuss his concerns with the family and before he can present his case, Howie tells the family that Lucas is clearly having dementia and cannot tell reality from fiction. With this slant, they listen to Lucas and concur that he’s gone off his rocker. As Lucas and Martha make plans to escape, they realize with their advanced age that this would be nearly impossible and so Lucas devices an extreme “final solution.”

 

Douglas wove a tightly knit plot with likeable and believable characters, a plot that kept the pages turning and I feel that this is an overlooked work of fiction that should be resuscitated. As more and more families are put in similar circumstances, they could relate to this almost horror read personally. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this.