“[A] cheeky satire that deftly pokes fun at self-help culture ... You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll cringe at how much of your social-media-obsessed self you recognize in these pages.”

Marie Claire Magazine

Samantha Irby

“Fresh and original, Sarah Selecky’s novel cleverly satirizes our insta-world but also takes its characters seriously enough to give them and ending that is moving and transcendent.”

“Radiant Shimmering Light is inventive and modern. Sarah Selecky delivers a cast of characters who are both recognizable and utterly unique in this novel that is as luminous as its title.”

Marissa Stapley

Author of Things To Do When It’s Raining

“Thie meditative, funny, groovy, and absolutely beautiful book kept me entranced beginning to end. The intrigue and mystery of self-help movements shimmers throughout the narrative, and our narrator so full of life, hearkens back to the plucky heroines of Jane Austen, but with a modern wit and vivacity all her own. I loved the rich, meaningful hours I spent with this book.”

Rebecca Lee

Author of Bobcat and Other Stories

“Our online world provides endless humorous possibility and here is a book that’s witty, timely, and smart with regard to social media. But then, quite wonderfully, Selecky’s story turns more complicated than it first appeared. Bursting with energy and colour, every page delights and provokes. This book is a dazzler.”

Karen Joy Fowler

Author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

“[A] hilarious book that pokes much-needed fun at the world of #blessed empowerment events.”

New York Post

Mackenzie Dawson

“Selecky refuses to work strictly in tropes. What begins as a killer satire opens up to some messy ideas: Spiritual teachings can be mostly bunk but partly useful. Women are easy marks but that’s because they are rightfully hungry for empowerment. And Lilian herself has strange and lovely depths that she manages to plumb thanks to—or in spite of—the work ... A funny, tender, gimlet-eyed dive into the cult of self-improvement.”

Kirkus Reviews

“In Radiant Shimmering Light, [Sarah Selecky] nails the Perfect-Yourself 35-43 gen in all of its hopeful internet-brand-conscious pyramid-scheming empowering goddessiness. Social satire + cultural insight whipped into a yummy froth! You’ll laugh + shed a tiny precious tear, my petals!”

Margaret Atwood

via Twitter

“When struggling pet portraitist Lillian Quick gets sucked into a pyramid scheme run by her cousin, a wellness and social media-marketing guru, she undergoes a dramatic transformation. Selecky’s vivid, smartly satirical tale will make you feel like you’ve fallen into an exquisite painting, a women’s empowerment cult and a midlife crisis all at once.”

People Magazine

“If you’ve ever fallen asleep during savasana in yoga class or gotten a headache from your essential-oil mix, Sarah Selecky’s hilarious debut novel about self-help gurus and the people who follow them is for you ... There’s plenty of laughs but lots of truth, too.”

Washington Post

Bethanne Patrick

“Selecky’s great strength is her tone…she sits quietly and observes, letting all that commodified spirituality satirize itself.”

NZ Listener

“Bright and crisp. Humour and light infuse the sentences. . . . Brimming with insights into female-driven motivational seminars in the age of #MeToo, Radiant Shimmering Light speaks to our desire for community.”

Hamilton Review of Books

Sally Cooper

“[A] darkly hilarious satire . . . This novel delivers an unforgettable take on authenticity, success, and storytelling in today's digital age.”

“If you pack this book in your tote for a long weekend spent by a lake, don’t be surprised to find you’re completely ignoring your friends. The story of Lilian Quick’s enlightenment amidst the world of personal development in Manhattan demands you keep reading ’til it’s done.”

“Reflecting on the women’s empowerment movement and pyramid schemes with wit, insight, and empathy, Selecky showcases the difficulties of having and achieving in the modern world, while questioning what successful womanhood—and adulthood—is all about.”

Mind Body Green

“Selecky’s sharp parody explores female friendship and questions the role of consumerism in women’s empowerment and self-improvement trends.”

“At once a satire of wellness bloggers, Instagram influencers, and self-care capitalism, and a heartfelt look at the things we do to cure loneliness and feel empowered.”

“[A] nuanced, satirical novel . . . incredible.”

“Radiant Shimmering Light is an engrossing, unusual read. Most of the characters here are women who really do support each other as they seek to become their highest and best selves, while documenting it all on social media. Sarah Selecky’s first novel is beautiful, clever and quietly quirky, with a heroine readers will root for and support. It’s quite a jewel.”

“Lillian Quick is an unsuccessful pet portrait artist. Her cousin Eleven Novak is a self-help guru with a Manhattan center called "the Temple" that may be nothing more than a pyramid scheme. The collision of these two women leads to plenty of delicious New Age satire.”

Newsday

“The world we know is slowly disappearing.”

Our Voice (Polish Weekly in Ireland)

“This remarkable, hard-to-categorize novel is written with the same keen insight into female friendships and the same passionate attention to sensory details that got Selecky's previous book shortlisted for the Giller Prize. In Radiant Shimmering Light, however, the relationships unfold in the context of a women-centred self-help MLM (multi-level marketing) enterprise called Ascendency, headed up by a magnetic, mysterious and monomaniacal leader named Eleven. Sounds like satire? There's a definite edge of squirmy comedy in watching the earnest seekers fall down the Ascendency rabbit-hole and wind up selling products like 'Conscious Chocolates' at their sharing circles. Yet this story also has huge heart, and I came away from it with eyes newly open to the shimmer of enchantment in the world around us.”

“Tinged with magic ... An otherworldly feeling pervades the novel, from the transformative experiences the characters undergo to the author’s whimsical use of nature.”

Quill & Quire

Tara Henley

“If you need a belly laugh, add Radiant Shimmering Light to the top of your reading list. This hilarious satirical novel is about a single 40-year-old woman trying to build her brand as an animal aura portrait artist (lol) and her newly internet-famous cousin who supposedly has all the answers. Prepare for a lot of giggling and a lot of cringing.”

Hello Giggles

Elizabeth Entenman

“Selecky masterfully mimics the marketing-speak of “gurus” like Eleven: an endless cycle of metaphor and hyperbole, pet names for her followers (“petals,” “darlings”) and a cultish adaptation of language for her own purposes ... Although the cousins’ back story is solidly written, Selecky excels when she focuses on the world of self-promotion. The novel halts frequently to make room for its characters’ exhaustive social media posts ... Alongside these delicious satirical moments, Selecky includes occasional respite from the jargon, particularly when Lilian’s friend Juliette is on the page ... The novel, at its core, examines the nature of genuine friendship, freed from the need to build a brand.”

“An Insta-famous motivational guru recruits her cousin to a creepy training program.”

Cosmopolitan

Best December Ever

“[A] delicious send-up of the online self-care movement that aligns itself with social media and self-promotion. The book is extremely funny and extremely sad, all at the same time ... I was enamored with Radiant Shimmering Light from the very first pages.”

The Cyberlibrarian

Miriam Downey

“In Radiant Shimmering Light, her brilliant, hilarious, perceptive debut novel, Sarah Selecky examines the enmeshing of “self-care” with flagrant self-promotion and knee-jerk consumerism.”

“In the satirical novel Radiant Shimmering Light, author Sarah Selecky holds up a mirror to society’s obsession with creating fantasy lives that don’t accurately reflect their reality.”

“Radiant Shimmering Light is timely, easy to dive into, and has “summer read” all over it. But this is also a literary work that drills deep into character; it’s about as good as it gets for a discerning reader. […] Watch this one: if there’s any justice, Radiant Shimmering Light is going to be everywhere on the fall awards lists.”