User:StrawCity/sandbox/Candle

Take One Candle Light a Room is a novel by Susan Straight published in 2010.

It is the second novel in a set of three companion novels known as the Rio Seco trilogy. The other books in the trilogy are A Million Nightingales (2006) and Between Heaven and Here (2012).

Take One Candle Light a Room was named one of the best novels of 2010 by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Kirkus Reviews.

Development history
~history of the novel's development, if available (e.g., Things Fall Apart)~

Explanation of the novel's title
The title of the book is a phrase that was used in the novel A Million Nightingales, the first book in the Rio Seco trilogy. FX's great-great-great grandmother, Marie-Thérèse, used the phrase to describe her daughter Moinette. She was referring to the lightness and brightness of Moinette's skin, but she was also referring to the specialness of an only child. In the book Take One Candle Light a Room, the title could refer to FX herself - another "light-bright" girl. It could also refer to FX's godson Victor, an orphaned child for whom she takes responsibility.

Companion Novels
Take One Candle Light a Room is the second book in a set of three companion novels known as the Rio Seco trilogy. The other books in the trilogy are A Million Nightingales (2006) and Between Heaven and Here (2012). All three books are connected by place, family, and kinship. In the chronology of the trilogy, the events of Take One Candle Light a Room occur after those of Between Heaven and Here even though it was published two years earlier.

A Million Nightingales is a historical novel about FX Antoine's great-great-great grandmother, Moinette Antoine, a beautiful and self-educated slave of mixed race living in Louisiana in the early to mid-19th century. Moinette narrates her own story from age 14 when she is taken from her mother to the end of her life when she has become a free woman and business owner. FX's given name, Fantine, is the same name of Moinette's friend, a fellow slave.

Between Heaven and Here is about the aftermath of Glorette Picard's death. Glorette, a crack-addicted prostitute, was Victor's mother and FX Antoine's childhood friend. Glorette and FX's families are connected by the story that was the catalyst for A Million Nightingales. In the background story of Between Heaven and Here and Take One Candle Light a Room, FX's mother and four other girls escaped from rural Louisiana to live in Riverside, California after the local plantation owner raped three of them in 1958. Glorette's mother joined them a few years later.

Plot
Take One Candle Light a Room is about Fantine "FX" Antoine, a successful travel writer based in Los Angeles. When FX's godson, Victor Picard, gets in trouble with the law, FX travels to Louisiana to help him.

Style and structure
~first-person narration~

Major themes
~family relationships, race in America~

Reception
Take One Candle Light a Room was named one of the best novels of 2010 by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Kirkus Reviews.

Publication history

 * 2010, United States, Pantheon Books, New York, ISBN 9780307379146, Pub date 12 October 2010, Hardback.
 * 2010, United States, Anchor Books, ASIN B003WUYORK, Pub date 12 October 2010, Amazon Kindle edition.
 * 2012, United States, Anchor Books, ISBN 9780307477378, Pub date 13 March 2012, Paperback.
 * 2013, United States, Audible Studios, ASIN B00ECIJWE6, Pub 03 September 2013, Audiobook.