Available Now ~ This Shore of Light: a novel

“A tender portrait of family, faith, and the complicated path toward forgiveness.”

—Amanda Cox, Christy-award-winning author of He Should Have Told the Bees and The Bitter End Birding Society

2026 American Fiction Awards
Finalist, Women’s Fiction

This Shore of Light is a story of love, forgiveness, and quiet transformation.

In a small town on Puget Sound, Molly McIntyre spends her days teaching school and her evenings and weekends caring for her beloved grandmother—except when she’s volunteering at the local theatre. Much as Molly loves the magic of a good play, she doesn’t trust actors. They’re too good at what they do.

Tristan Stuart always wanted to be a movie star, but after months of caring for his mom away from the hustle of Hollywood, his lifelong dream has turned to dust, and he has no idea what to do—until he meets Molly.

As Tristan presses forward into a new life, Molly retreats in fear, but slowly Tristan wins not only her trust but her heart.

Then his past collides with his present and shatters her faith in him.

Advance Praise for This Shore of Light

K. C. Ireton’s This Shore of Light is a tender portrait of family, faith, and the complicated path toward forgiveness. With grace and compassion, she captures what it means to take a chance on love after disappointment and the quiet courage needed to trust again.

Amanda Cox

Christy-award-winning novelist

At its heart, This Shore of Light is a love story, but it’s also so much more. A tender exploration of faith, family, betrayal, and loss, this is a story about the courage it takes to love when you’ve been hurt, and the grace that waits on the other side. I found myself completely at home in these pages.

Sandy Cooper

award-winning author and podcaster

This is precisely the sort of book the world needs right now: a tale of timeless relevance with a classic sensibility. Skillfully employing rich imagery with subtle symbolism, K. C. Ireton depicts spiritual struggle and growth in a way that is convincing, moving, and uplifting . . . A family story and a love story, populated with endearing, relatable characters, This Shore of Light is a work of art and a world I did not want to leave.”

Lanier Ivester

author and poet

With This Shore of Light, K. C. Ireton creates a beautifully scripted story that draws us in from the first page and holds us attentive to the very end. This is a book to be treasured and an author to be followed!
Lancia E. Smith

Founder, Cultivating Oaks Press

K.C. Ireton’s This Shore of Light presents an endearing cast of characters (plus a car named Nancy Drew) each hoping for a little happiness in the shadow of heartache. The truth they find is hard-won, and distinctly human—that even life’s sorrows can be a grace, if you let them.

John Blase

poet and author

K. C. Ireton has crafted a novel full of warm family relationships, beautiful scenery, and the rhythms of faith in This Shore of Light. The story’s literary and theater references will keep you reading and watching for love to break through in this glowing tale.

Julie Witmer

writer and founder of the Elizabeth Goudge Bookclub

A mother’s death and a daughter’s request.
The story behind This Shore of Light. 

If you enjoy books by Sarah Clarkson, Amanda Cox, Amanda Dykes, or Jan Karon, you’ll want to read This Shore of Light!

In This Shore of Light, Eleanor’s prayer life is deeply shaped by the Book of Common Prayer.

Enter your email address to receive a free PDF of every prayer she prays throughout the novel, along with a brief introduction to each one.

Resources for Book Clubs

If you’d like to invite K. C. to join your book discussion via Zoom, please fill out the following form and include the date, time (and time zone!), and size of the book club. 

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About the Author

K. C. Ireton is the author of The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year and A Yellow Wood and Other Stories as well as countless articles, essays, and blog posts.

An Anglican lay catechist and preacher, she holds an M.A. in Apologetics from Houston Christian University, where she studied literary apologetics and wrote her thesis on Christological imagery in the stories of Hans Christian Andersen.

She lives on Puget Sound with her husband and two of their four children. (The other two have flown the nest.) When she’s not driving carpool or working her day job, she enjoys good books (preferably old), long walks (preferably windy), good tea (preferably Yorkshire Gold), and gardens (preferably cottage).

Her favorite piece of punctuation is the em dash, followed closely by the Oxford comma.

This Shore of Light is her first novel.

Keep Company With Me

Enter your email address to receive my monthly Quiet Letter. On the first Friday of each month, I’ll quietly drop into your inbox a weather report (in which I meditate on the view from my window and its relationship to the Christian spiritual life), updates about my writing projects, book recommendations, and a poem or prayer. I’d love to keep company with you!