“Once in a while a book comes along that sears the heart and burns its way into memory through an eloquent, moving and resonating depiction of the human condition. This third novel (Rituals, Mirror Images,) by the daughter of the poet Anne Sexton qualifies on all those counts…In this subtly nuanced, luminous and never cheaply sentimental portray of family relationships profoundly altered through tragedy and redeemed by love, Sexton has dared to confront a parent’s worst nightmare and has created a novel memorable for its insight and wisdom.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Ms. Sexton’s account of Allie’s numbing grief is precise, tender and agonizing.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Points of Light is riveting, rewarding reading. This is a disturbing book even while it’s gracefully written, enticing you more deeply into the story with a warm and loving tale that never gushes. The characters are real people, the kind you can care about immediately…Linda Gray Sexton, daughter of the late poet Anne Sexton, is a gentle and skillful writer, and a brave one too. Death is always a painful subject, and the death of a child is so unthinkable that most people simply refuse to think about it. Sexton handles it tenderly and tactfully, forcing her readers to confront troublesome emotions and to recognize a range of legitimate reactions to such a tragedy. Points of Light is a relentlessly sad story, but it is also one that tempers the sorrow with the joy to be found in surviving.”
DALLAS TIMES HERALD

“Using wondrously evocative prose, Sexton’s heartfelt and hopeful tale triumphs over tragedy. It’s a beautiful work that deserves a wide readership…Sexton’s depiction of the grieving process and its effects is knowledgeable and completely on target. It’s a tribute to her immense writing talent that she successfully shapes an uplifting tale…Points of Light comes from the heart and soothes the spirit. This is simply a marvelous book.”
FORTH WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

“It is tough reading at times, especially if you have a young child. Sexton explores the terrain of grief and guilt, love and loss, with a certainty that may leave you weeping—but won’t leave you untouched…The author, elder daughter of the late poet Anne Sexton, dedicates the book “to my mother, who taught me for listen to the sound of the word.” Her prose leaves little doubt that Sexton has mastered that subtle skill.”
THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

After reading Points of Light I tried to find the necessary distance to write about a book that made me experience the awful dichotomy of grief and numbness that the mind succumbs to in times of intense pain. Even now, having let an interval of weeks go by between the reading and the writing, I cannot distance myself. And that must be at least a part of what an author aims for.”
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

“Sexton’s moving analysis of how Allie and the entire family cope with their grief and loss is riveting, authentic, and charged with genuine emotions…Sexton’s depiction of maternal grief is both particular and universal in this fine novel. Highly recommended.”
LIBRARY JOURNAL

“In Points of Light, her third novel, Ms. Sexton has managed to address those issues closest to her heart in a beautifully balanced, almost lyrical way…There’s no denying that these chapters make for painful reading; there’s also no denying that Ms. Sexton rewards us for our fortitude with a surprisingly powerful resolution.”
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, JOURNAL CONSTITUTION

“Some books reach deep inside and stir your soul. Linda Gray Sexton’s Points of Light is such a book. [She] has found that being the elder daughter of the late Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Anne Sexton is a mixed blessing. Although she has two previous novels to her credit, Rituals and Mirror Images, it has been hard to shake the image of being “Anne’s” daughter. Points of Light is proof that she does not stand in anyone’s shadow.”
WILMINGTON SUNDAY STAR-NEWS

“The Good Mother limned the essence of motherhood. Points of Light reaches beyond that; in showing a woman as mate, as mother, as human being whose other work, in this case painting, gives to and grows from her other roles, the author has written the essential character of womanhood itself.”
VIRGINIAN PILOT AND THE LEDGER STAR

“A cathartic, gratifying novel! The characters are authentic and touching, the story line is totally absorbing. The book stuck to my fingers, compelling me to see it through it one sitting.”
MAXINE KUMIN, AUTHOR OF PULITZER PRIZE WINNING UP COUNTRY AND OF IN DEEP

“This novel is a mastering rendering of a woman’s deepest sorrow and purest joy.”
ANNE BERNAYS, AUTHOR OF GROWING UP RICH AND THE ADDRESS BOOK

“In Points of Light Sexton explores in a breathtaking narrative the relationship of a young mother and infant son…It should be said that the novels of Linda Gray Sexton turn in the end toward light and hope, however disastrous the paths have been, with a sense of having overcome the worst. With Anne Sexton’s poetry, it seemed always that the worst was yet to be.”
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“Sexton possesses a gift…for plumbing some of the deepest emotions, and these scenes haunt the reader beyond the finish of the book.”
THE WASHINGTON POST

“Points of Light, exquisite in its composition, might just break your heart in half. In the process, you may also learn a thing or two. And that’s the point of all good fiction.”
THE DETROIT NEWS

“Sexton’s writing is beautifully controlled, conveying abrupt changes in feeling without melodramatic excess, building tension through accumulated detail, and rendering a painter’s private idiom into urgent and convincing prose.”
THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

“Points of Light is hauntingly real. Life’s cruelest wrench, the death of a child, in itself poses enough risks to an author, but in Points of Light Linda Sexton raises the ante by also describing how it feels to nearly succeed at suicide. She brings a catch to the throat, a sting to the eye, before the reader quite realizes what is happening… Sexton is convincing in these rarer regions, because the rest of the book rings true. She recreates daily life with its sounds, tastes and textures, as perceived by her protagonist…[Her] unsparing eye puts the material details together into the magical realism imitated by many today, but mastered by only a few, notably Gabriel Garcia Marquez…Sexton creates her aching lyrical effects by making everything so concrete and specific that even Hemingway could have praised her…Prudent readers will stock up on tissues. Plenty of purging tears are on the way, and they aren’t cheap ones.”
BUFFALO NEWS

“Beautifully written and filled with resonances that touch the heart, Points of Light is a celebration of maternal love and the tremendous resiliency of the human spirit. Linda Sexton’s exploration of love and grief, and the restorative power of the human heart and mind is evocative, powerful and compulsively readable.”
THE CHATTANOOGA TIMES

“Ms. Sexton is exploring territory most mothers have only visited in their nightmares, and she writes with a blistering honesty which reaches deep into her characters…As an examination of a mother’s rage gains the power which can take away the life she has given, the novel is heartrending.”
INDEPENDENT

“This is a poignant novel of love, death and unrelenting grief, written in simple, heart-wrenching prose. Linda Gray Sexton is able to capture, as only poets sometimes can, moments in time…In descriptive phrases of ordinary scenes, Sexton can evoke an immediacy seldom felt. Writing of emotions, she is able to raise the passions she depicts, an art achieved by few writers. Whether this novel’s people, plot or place are interesting to a reader, its language and craftsmanship are certain to linger.”
PASADENA SUNDAY NEWS

“Ms. Sexton has created a character so real that the agonies become our own, a troubled, sensitive, flawed person who deserves far better, surrounded by a small, select cast of equally vivid people. There is deep emotion and feeling here, and troubled conflicts that make a small masterpiece of what might otherwise be just another tragic family story.”
ANNISTON STAR

“This is a moving story of mother love, a story so human we can all identify and respond. This book touched me.”
MARLO THOMAS, “REUNION”