Malcolm Hopeton is on trial for his life - he has committed a horrific act that reverberates through the community of the Four Corners as it emerges from the shadows of the American Civil War. Becca Davis has been keeping house for the widowed August Swartout for four years when she receives word that her brother Harlan has been injured in a tussle with the infamous murderer. But when Harlan comes to the house to recuperate, Becca and August are surprised. Not only does Harlan forgive his attacker, but he is ready to stand at his trial and plead in his defence. Soon, Enoch Stone, the local lawyer, comes knocking. Sensing an opportunity to advance his own position, he has taken on Hopeton's case. As the truth behind the violence comes to light and the townspeople become caught up in the events, notions of honour and integrity, theft and revenge will be sorely tested. And they will each come to realise that the world they thought they knew can never be the same again. A Slant of Light is a powerful novel of lust and love, loss and war, prophets and followers: of the moments that shatter our lives and the ways in which they are remade.