The human body is a strange thing sometimes. In this booklist, I feature books that highlight two related conditions: an allergy to sunlight, and sensitivity to light in general. If I hadn’t come across these books, I doubt I’d even know that this was something that could happen to the body: the idea of the need for light – and sunlight in particular – is so ingrained in us that it’s an odd thing to consider that some people’s bodies reject it. But these conditions are very real and very serious for the people affected. These stories shed light – pun intended – on what it’s like for people to live with such a sensitivity or allergy.

Three books have been or will be published within a year of each other that focus on light or sunlight sensitivity issues: two YA published this year, one middle grade forthcoming in January. I wouldn’t say these three books are enough to constitute a trend, but conditions like these are unusual enough that when a book features one as the central plot point, it grabs my attention. Going back several years, I could only find a few others that touched on this same topic. Have you read any of these? Are there any I’ve missed?

 

The Deepest Secret by Carla Buckley (2014)

Diagnosed with Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a rare medical condition which makes him lethally sensitive to light, Tyler is a thirteen-year-old who desperately wants just one thing: to be normal. His mother Eve also wants just one thing: to protect her son. As Tyler begins roaming their cul-de-sac at night, cloaked in the safety of the darkness, he peers into the lives of the other families on the street-looking in on the things they most want hidden. Then, the young daughter of a neighbor suddenly vanishes, and Tyler may be the only one who can make sense of her disappearance…but what will happen when everyone’s secrets are exposed to the light?

[Note from Kimberly: This is a book for adults that features a teenager as one of its main characters.]

 

Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Justina Chen (2018)

What would you do if the sun became your enemy?

That’s exactly what happens to Viola Li after she returns from a trip abroad and develops a sudden and extreme case of photosensitivity — an inexplicable allergy to sunlight. Thanks to her crisis-manager parents, she doesn’t just have to wear layers of clothes and a hat the size of a spaceship. She has to stay away from all hint of light. Say goodbye to windows and running outdoors. Even her phone becomes a threat when its screen burns her.

Viola is determined to maintain a normal life, particularly after she meets Josh. He’s a funny, talented Thor look-alike who carries his own mysterious grief. But the intensity of their romance makes her take more and more risks, and when a rebellion against her parents backfires dangerously, she must find her way to a life — and love — as deep and lovely as her dreams.

[Note from Kimberly: The synopsis doesn’t mention it, but Viola’s condition is called solar urticaria with polymorphous light eruption.]

 

Midnight Sun by Trish Cook (2018)

Seventeen-year-old Katie Price has a rare disease that makes exposure to even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly. Confined to her house during the day, her company is limited to her widowed father and her best (okay, only) friend. It isn’t until after nightfall that Katie’s world opens up, when she takes her guitar to the local train station and plays for the people coming and going.

Charlie Reed is a former all-star athlete at a crossroads in his life – and the boy Katie has secretly admired from afar for years. When he happens upon her playing guitar one night, fate intervenes and the two embark on a star-crossed romance. As they challenge each other to chase their dreams and fall for each other under the summer night sky, Katie and Charlie form a bond strong enough to change them – and everyone around them – forever.

[Note from Kimberly: Katie has Xeroderma Pigmentosum.]

 

A Cool Moonlight by Angela Johnson (2003)

Born with a rare and dangerous allergy to sunlight, Lila’s spent her life hidden from the daylight-staying covered up and indoors until dark, only venturing outside after the sun has set and the moon’s cool light shines. Almost every night, she is visited by two young girls who wear tutus over their jeans and costume fairy wings, and the three of them dance and tell wonderful stories. But while Lila adores her family and her new friends, still she longs to feel the sun’s touch. Lila’s mysterious friends have promised to help her . . . but how?

[Note from Kimberly: Lila has Xeroderma Pigmentosum.]

 

The Ice Garden by Guy Jones (January 2019)

Jess is allergic to the sun. She lives in a world of shadows and hospitals, peeking at the other children in the playground from behind curtains. Her only friend is a boy in a coma, to whom she tells stories. One night she sneaks out to explore the empty playground she’s longed to visit, where she discovers a beautiful impossibility: a magical garden wrought of ice. But Jess isn’t alone in this fragile, in-between place…

 

 

Bloodthirsty by Flynn Meaney (2010)

Fifteen-year-old Finbar Frame seriously missed out in the gene-pool stakes, since his twin brother Luke got the good looks, athletic ability and pigmentation. Finbar is tall, skinny, pale and pretty much allergic to the sun – and sadly, teenage girls don’t appreciate Finbar’s sensitive skin or his sensitive soul. But when a move to a new school converges with a cultural trend romanticising vampires, Finbar seizes the opportunity. He’ll become a vampire! Or at least fake it … to get a date.

 

What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard (2013)

Allie Kim suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum: a fatal allergy to sunlight that confines her and her two best friends, Rob and Juliet, to the night. When freewheeling Juliet takes up Parkour—the stunt-sport of scaling and leaping off tall buildings—Allie and Rob have no choice but to join her, if only to protect her. Though potentially deadly, Parkour after dark makes Allie feel truly alive, and for the first time equal to the “daytimers.”

On a random summer night, the trio catches a glimpse of what appears to be murder. Allie alone takes it upon herself to investigate, and the truth comes at an unthinkable price. Navigating the shadowy world of specialized XP care, extreme sports, and forbidden love, Allie ultimately uncovers a secret that upends everything she believes about the people she trusts the most.