Henry, an oil field worker who is convinced that religion has made him a new person, has not seen his seven-year-old son and daughter since he abandoned them when their mother Estella died days after their birth. In September of 1937, 17-year-old Naomi Vargas and her twin half-siblings, Beto and Cari, move from their grandparents’ home in San Antonio, Texas, to New London, to live with Henry Smith, the twins’ father, and Naomi’s stepfather. This guide is based on the 2022 paperback edition of the novel.Ĭontent Warning: Out of Darkness contains sensitive material, such as mentions and scenes of miscarriage, death in childbirth, emotional abuse and manipulation, copious expressions of ableism and racism including racial epithets, violence (specifically, racial and sexual violence including lynchings, murder, sexual assault, and sexual abuse of a child), and a gas explosion resulting in the gruesome deaths and maiming of adults and children. Out of Darkness explores themes of family dynamics, young love, loss and loyalty, racism and religion, and sexual assault and abuse-thoroughly grounding itself in the specific context of East Texas in the 1930s. There are also sections for “The Gang” which depict the experiences of a group of rough delinquents who attend school with Naomi and provide further context. The characters Naomi, Beto, Wash, Cari, and Henry each have reoccurring sections throughout the novel, in addition to sections with Naomi and Wash together. Each chapter is divided into two separate sections, each written from a third-person omniscient perspective, with the heading indicating which character the narrative is following for the duration of the section. Part 3 is titled “After” and contains one chapter, beginning on the date of the explosion, March 18th, 1937, and ending with the Epilogue. Part 2 is titled “Before” and comprises chapters for each of the months from September 1936 to March 1937.
Out of Darkness is divided into three parts: Part 1 describes the evening of an explosion and its aftermath, followed by a brief depiction of a shoe James Washington “Wash” Fuller, one of the protagonists, sees when he enters the decimated school.
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