Woman of Light

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of racism and racist violence and stillbirth.

18-year-old Luz “Little Light” Lopez is the clairvoyant, multiracial protagonist of Woman of Light. The title Woman of Light refers to Luz herself, whose name is Spanish for “light.” The novel details the months before and after her 18th birthday, with flashbacks to her childhood and adolescence. She is the younger sister of Diego and niece of Maria Josie. The siblings’ mother, Sara, struggles with alcoholism after their French father Benny abandons the family, and thus sends them away from their mining camp in Huerfano to Denver. Luz is close with her cousin, Lizette, and they work at a laundry together, cleaning the clothes of white citizens. When Diego is forced to leave Maria Josie’s home, Luz realizes she must find a better job to support the family and convinces “family friend” David to hire her as a law firm assistant. She finds it difficult to resist his sexual advances, their flirtation embodying one of many losses of innocence. She enters a relationship with handyman and trumpet player Avel, and while the couple become engaged, she ultimately entertains sex with David.