A Marvellous Light

The work’s other protagonist and point of view character, Edwin is devoted to a life of the mind and particularly interested in magical theory and principles. He is the Magical Assembly’s liaison to the home office, but research is his true passion. Tall, thin, and socially awkward, Edwin assumes that most people dislike him, primed to think this way after a lifetime of emotional abuse from his father and older brother. He lives alone and avoids his family because of this dynamic. Edwin thinks of himself as “not Courcey enough. Not anything enough” (114). He both admires and resents Robin’s greater social skills, but he gradually comes to realize that Robin’s interest in him is genuine.

His greater struggle is to believe that he deserves a lasting relationship and can be his entire self with another person. He tries to insist to himself, “[I]f they both wanted this, then surely, surely Edwin could have it without giving away too much of himself” (200). This emotional reticence leads him to send Robin away rather than explain his doubts and fears. Time with Robin makes Edwin realize he has been lonely, and he is honest with Miss Morrissey about their adventure, seeking her help in finding the Last Contract. He discovers that he is not as drawn to power as he once thought, rejecting Billy Byatt’s offer to join the conspiracy to unite the power of all British magicians without their consent. This spurs a final confrontation with his brother, where Edwin draws on the magic of his new home to protect himself and Robin. His discovery of a new source of magic, and his moral certitude that magic must involve sacrifice and free will, illustrate the depth of his personal growth and the degree to which his love for Robin shows him his best self.

The original holder of Robin’s civil service post, Reggie appears only briefly in the text. A group of unknown magicians torture him into revealing the location of his pieces of the Last Contract, and they mock him for hoping that the artifacts could also be used to give power to those from magical families without abilities of their own. Like Edwin, Reggie lived apart from his family, and they do not seem to grieve his death or absence.

Flora Sutton seems to accept Reggie’s death as an acceptable cost for preserving the Last Contract from those who would misuse it, underlining that few saw him as valuable in his own right. Robin realizes that Edwin had feelings for Reggie, who was straight, because longing for the unattainable was emotionally and logistically safer than entering another relationship. When he realizes that Miss Morrissey seems similarly grief stricken, Robin is struck by a wish to “to work out for himself if this irresponsible man had in any way deserved the subdued longing of two clever people” (297). Reggie’s death sets the novel’s plot in motion and spurs emotional revelations for its protagonists.

Robin’s 18-year-old sister, Maud, has feminist views and enjoys being countercultural. Her parents particularly disapproved of her politics, and she had a habit of “needling the dinner table with unladylike talk” to get their attention (33). Maud tells Robin that she wants to make the most of her life by attending Newnham College, adding to the responsibility he feels for her and her social reputation as the new head of the family. Their emotional bond suggests that Robin’s warmth with Edwin is a genuine part of his personality, reserved for those he truly trusts.

Maud successfully charms her way to Robin’s office and convinces Miss Morrissey to give her the address of Penhallick House, underlining her resourceful nature and refusal to be ignored. Her unease with the Courceys, and concern for Robin’s visions, proves that their strong sibling bond is mutual. Freya Marske foreshadows Maud’s role as the protagonist of the second book in the series, A Restless Truth, when Maud puckishly asks, “[I]s she pretty?” about the woman in his visions (291). The woman, Violet Debenham, is the work’s other protagonist and Maud’s love interest. This work deepens Maud’s journey to independence and self-knowledge, and the role of her love for Robin in motivating her to action.

Miss Morrissey, a secretary in the Home Office, is assigned to assist Edwin and Robin in the Office of Special Affairs and Complaints. Robin is surprised to be working with a biracial woman, which betrays that he is prone to the sexist and racist assumptions common to his era, though he soon comes to trust Miss Morrissey as a source of information about the office. She plainly resents being ignored and dismissed and does not apologize for sending Maud to Penhallick as a punishment for Robin and Edwin avoiding work. Edwin chooses to confide in her after returning to London, and she helps Robin rescue him from Billy. Adelaide points out, impatiently, that the conspirators are similarly sexist, as they assumed she did not have any knowledge of Reggie’s office or motives. Similarly, she points out to her sister that if they argue Robin physically overpowered them, no one will question why Kitty went against policy to help them find Edwin. Adelaide works around the strictures of gender norms much as Edwin uses his expertise in magical theory to supplement his lack of raw magical strength. Her relationship with both Edwin and Robin grows closer throughout the trilogy, underlining the ways both of them embrace community.

The owner of Sutton Cottage, Flora is Reggie Gatling’s great-aunt and one of the keepers of the Last Contract’s component parts. An elderly woman, she seems frail and unassuming, but Robin soon decides she is dissembling to protect her secrets, refusing to leave until she explains more about the Last Contract and her history with Reggie. She alludes briefly to being part of a larger group who discovered that the Last Contract was more than myth, telling Robin, “as soon as we saw what it could mean, we stopped” (161). Edwin is struck by her powerful magic and indications that she is self-taught, especially when she tells him the magic system he knows was devised only by men. Flora’s deadly hedge maze reminds Robin of Greek mythology, and she is pleased when he notices the allusion. When Edwin is desperate to save Robin from being trapped in his visions, he reminds himself that he has been told he has “an affinity, from a woman whose land had spun itself orchards from things and charms from saplings” (297).

Flora’s death, like her life, comes to demonstrate her refusal to be bound by the patriarchal expectations of her society, as she opts for death by suicide rather than cooperation with the conspiracy. In the trilogy’s second book, Maud Blyth uncovers more of Flora’s past and the values that drove her, deepening the series’ exploration of gender and power.

The son of an earl, Hawthorn is wealthier and more privileged than either Edwin or Robin, though he lost all of his magic in a mysterious family tragedy that also resulted in the death of his beloved twin sister, Elsie. Robin and Edwin visit him in the hope he will have some insights about the curse on Robin’s arm. Robin is struck by Hawthorn’s height and muscular good looks, but this soon gives way to dislike. He is bitingly cruel to Edwin, telling him, “[P]allid little libraries were never really to my taste” and reminding him that while his magic is gone, he once had far more of it than Edwin does (54). Robin is struck by his handsomeness but boldly tells him, “[Y]ou’re being a complete arse for no reason at all” (54). Later, at Penhallick, Edwin remembers doubting that Jack ever had any regard for him, and when Robin expresses the same, it deepens his horror at his own behavior.

The Courcey family gossips about the Alston family tragedy over dinner, and Edwin’s memories of a younger jack are fonder. Robin’s visions of Hawthorn on a boat demonstrate that part of his journey has some relevance to the search for the Last Contract. Jack appears in book two of the trilogy, unwillingly assisting Maud, and is one of the protagonists of the final novel, A Power Unbound.

Billy is part of Edwin’s wider social circle, but closer to his sister and brother-in-law than to Edwin himself. Billy is friendly and affable, and Edwin thinks of him somewhat positively because Billy is kind about his lack of magic, having little of his own. Billy is mocked by the others for having lost a marriage opportunity due to his lack of magic, and Robin wonders if “perhaps his cheerfulness was armor” (142).

At Penhallick, Edwin does not notice that Billy routinely brings up the possibility of transferring power from one magician to another to increase the scope of what magic can accomplish. These speculations take a more concrete form when Billy kidnaps Edwin and reveals that he is part of the conspiracy to track the Last Contract. Billy denies any direct responsibility for Reggie’s death, but also implies that his death was an acceptable price to pay for the power of the Last Contract: “[W]hat’s that saying about omelets and eggs?” (312). Billy tries to persuade Edwin to join him in order to gain the magic he lacks. Edwin realizes, somewhat to his surprise, that he is unwilling to harm others for the sake of what he has long wanted, making his reckoning with Billy a revelation of his truer self. Kitty Kaur, Miss Morrissey’s sister, reveals that she is the woman Billy wanted to marry, but she is unable to dissuade him from his commitments. Edwin has little time to reckon with his role in Billy’s death, and Robin assures him it was necessary. Billy’s death signifies that danger and peril will only increase throughout the series. Walt’s total lack of grief for him, in contrast to Edwin’s anxiety and doubt, deepens the contrast between the brothers.